The Beloit Lady Trojans lost to the Wellington Crusaders, 77-21, Saturday, January 25, to finish fifth at the Colby tournament.
With its second consecutive loss, Beloit fell to 7-5. The Lady Trojans were to travel to Salina on Tuesday, January 28, to face Sacred Heart. The Lady Knights were 4-6 overall and 2-3 in the NCAA.
On Saturday, Britt Zeka made a three-pointer to give Wellington an early 3-0 lead. A free throw and another trey pushed it to 7-0 before junior McKenna Channell made two free throws to cut the gap to five.
Following two more Wellington threes, junior Autumn Lorenz’s basket narrowed the deficit to 13-4. The Lady Crusaders doubled their point total the rest of the opening quarter to lead, 26-4, going to the second.
Valerie Norwood’s basket early in the second continued Wellington’s dominance. A free throw and basket completed the 18-0 run before senior Olivia Wright’s basket cut the gap to 31-6.
Dru Zeka’s trey pushed it to 34-6 in the middle of the quarter. Wellington outscored Beloit 10-3 the rest of the half to lead, 44-9, at the break.
After a Wellington basket early in the third quarter, senior Addison Budke’s bucket cut the edge to 46-11. Channell added two baskets later in the quarter while Lorenz had one.
Wellington led, 71-15, headed to the fourth. The final frame featured a running clock as the Lady Crusaders scored six of the ten points.
Senior Azlin Pfantz and sophomore Reagan Cheney each made a shot in the fourth to complete the Lady Trojans’ offensive output.
This was Beloit’s second consecutive year facing Wellington in the last game of the Orange & Black Classic. Both years, the Class 4A powerhouse was undefeated as it went to Colby.
Also, senior Cassandra Thompson missed the contest due to sickness.
Beloit Head Coach Keith Kresin said that his players played well in some stretches and did not let the large deficit dishearten them.
“I thought we played some really good minutes in the game,” he said. “The girls were pretty resilient.”
The coach said that facing a team of Wellington’s caliber will benefit his team.
“If we can handle this pressure, it’s only going to make us better,” he said. “There’s a lot of positives from this. We need to regroup, brush this off.”
Kresin said that his players are getting to know each other better.
“I think we’re becoming a tighter-knit group,” he said. “If you know someone, you’re not afraid to communicate.”