The New Castle Trojans's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their seventh straight loss. They fell to Tri 65-59. While losing is never fun, New Castle can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 324th, while Tri is ranked 100th).
Despite the loss, New Castle still got an impressive performance from Emma Hart, who scored 24 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. That was a full 40.7% of New Castle's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Devyn Ayers, who scored seven points.
Even though they lost, New Castle were working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Tri got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Nakaya Cridge out in front who scored 15 points along with nine rebounds and six blocks. That's the first time this season that Cridge scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Jillian Chew, who scored 19 points along with three steals.
New Castle has not been sharp recently, as they've lost 12 of their last 13 matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-17 record this season. As for Tri, the victory (which was their seventh in a row) raised their record to 19-2.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. New Castle will take on Yorktown at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Yorktown focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 14 on Tuesday. As for Tri, they will look to defend their home court on Thursday against Centerville at 7:30 p.m.
