Saxony Lutheran girls top Scott County Central 60-47 to kick off 2025

JACKSON — Kenzie Keys led the way with 16 points, Timora Criddle added 15 and Saxony Lutheran girls basketball cruised past Scott County Central 60-47 on Friday night at Saxony Lutheran High School.

Freshmen Allie Niccum and Emmalee Mueller added eight points apiece for the Crusaders (3-6), who extended a slew of positive streaks with their victory: they improved to 9-0 against Scott County Central in program history, remained undefeated on their home court this season and, perhaps most importantly, snapped a two-game skid.

Alysa Adams paced Scott County Central (6-5) with a game-high 21 points, and freshman Madison Klaffer dropped 15.

“I was proud of the way that they handled themselves tonight,” Saxony Lutheran head coach Chris Crawford said. “The last few days of practice, and last week, we've really been focusing on attacking in the paint and playing great defense. I think, for the most part, we did that really well.”

Saxony Lutheran made 4 of its first 5 from the floor as part of a 12-4 run and 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter that was capped by Criddle’s smooth 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Crusaders followed that up by scoring 13 of the next 16 to put the margin in double digits for the majority of the game.

Saxony Lutheran led 30-18 at halftime and were up by as much as 17 late in the second half. The Crusaders were also lethal from long range after draining six total 3s, including four from Criddle and Niccum, in the opening half alone.

“We have the shooters,” Crawford said, “but really early in the season, we settled for 3s instead of getting 3s in the rhythm, or getting in the paint, kicking out and shooting in rhythm. I thought we did really well with that in the first half. That's kind of why I think our shots were falling down.”

SCC threatened a comeback in the early stages of the fourth quarter after making it 41-35, but the Bravettes misfired on a few too many opportunities to get closer and struggled to maintain their mojo. That’s when Keys and her teammates began to score at will on the offensive end. They attacked the basket against the Bravettes, dropped a series of easy fast break layups to ignite the home crowd, and seemingly willed the rest of the road team to the finish line.

The Crusaders’ lead eventually swelled to 54-39, and all they had to do was nurse it the rest of the way.

The one area of improvement that Crawford was particularly pleased about: their hustle plays.

“We got on the floor well,” he said. “We got a lot of deflections. We talk about deflections every day, and deflections turn into turnovers, which turn into points. So, I was really proud of the effort that we played with. We weren't quite as fast as I would have liked in transition, but it's better than where it was, and better is good right now.”

Saxony Lutheran returns home to face Sikeston on Monday, Jan. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Scott County Central continues its road stretch with a trip to Oak Ridge next Tuesday, Jan. 7, for a 7:30 p.m. tip off.