From Staff Reports CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The Greencastle girls' varsity basketball team lost a close game to Crawfordsville Tuesday, 42-39

From Staff Reports

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The Greencastle girls' varsity basketball team lost a close game to Crawfordsville Tuesday, 42-39.

Although the Tiger Cubs came up short, Greencastle Coach Glenn Hile was proud of his team's improvement.

"We played really well," Hile said. "We got beat by a good Crawfordsville team. It's a game that I think personally we should've won."

Crawfordsville went up 13-9 in the first quarter, but Greencastle battled back to take a 21-17 lead into halftime. The game stayed close throughout the third quarter, with Crawfordsville taking a 35-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

Things got interesting in the final stanza.

Crawfordsville went to the foul line, up 40-39, with less than one minute remaining in the game. The Athenians missed the foul shot, but got their own rebound and added two points.

Greencastle got one last shot at a last second three-pointer, but failed to convert.

"I was really proud of the kids," Hile said. "Every one of them played hard. "

Leading the Tiger Cubs, senior center Kyrian Marshall had 15 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks. Fellow senior Stefanie Masten added nine points for Greencastle.

Overall, although the Tiger Cubs lost, Hile was pleased with their performance.

"We made major steps last night in becoming a pretty good ball club," he said. "We defended them extremely well. We slowed their running game down considerably."

Greencastle hosts Edgewood Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Hile can only hope to see more of the same improvement against the Mustangs.

"We're just starting to do things right," he said. "And we'll get better. The problem is we've got to win. The longer we lose, the harder it is to get the first one."

At Crawfordsville

Greencastle 9 11 12 6 -- 39

Crawfordsville 13 4 18 7 -- 42

Next game -- Greencastle hosts Edgewood Saturday at 6 p.m.