Newberry Academy vs Northside Christian Academy

This week, Northside Christian snapped a four-game losing streak by virtue of a 40-37 victory over Ben Lippen School. On Thursday night, back at home in Lexington, the Crusaders kept its winning ways going with another 40-37 victory, this time over defending 1A SCISA champions Newberry Academy. The Crusaders ran its record up to 3-4 while the visiting Eagles now have a mark of 3-5 on the young season. Newberry Academy has now alternated between wins and losses over its last five contests. The Eagles ran the table last season, going a perfect 25-0 en route to its first-ever state title. Prep Girls Hoops made the trip out to Lexington for the matchup between the two SCISA participants. Here is a look at who stood out on Thursday evening. <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/12/A9AF03D7-D99F-49AE-AFC6-121310A61FFB-crop-1207x793-1639124578.jpeg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-363179" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/12/A9AF03D7-D99F-49AE-AFC6-121310A61FFB-crop-1207x793-1639124578-300x197.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="216947" first="Shandrea" last="Pringle"] – 2023 – Northside Christian Academy</strong> – Out of the 16 points that Pringle eventually concluded the game with, she scored early and often with six of those points occurring in the first quarter. After being kept off the scoreboard in the second quarter, that began to change again when the game advanced into its later stages. In close contests such as this one, coaches love it when players step up in crunch time. She did so by scoring seven of her 16 in the first quarter. Pringle was aided by her ability to absorb contact and find her way to the free throw line. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="171756" first="Daja" last="Taylor"] – 2022 – Newberry Academy</strong> – The Eagles finished the game with 37 points – and 18 of those came from its star senior point guard. Taylor ran point for Newberry Academy for much of the contest and proved she can score from anywhere on the floor. Taylor is confident in her 3-point shot in addition to how she can attack the rim. As much attention as she gets, it is expected she will get bumped on lots of occasions which will put her at the free throw line plenty of times. Taylor had at least one made shot from the field and one made free throw in all four quarters. <strong>Lauren Reynolds – 2022 – Northside Christian Academy</strong> – Reynolds is one who has grown very much used to the indoor sports arena at Northside Christian as she has played volleyball in addition to basketball for the Crusaders. She was second in scoring to Pringle for Northside Christian as she finished with 11 points but managed to stay out of foul trouble. Reynolds had only personal foul called against her in a close game where a good number of fouls were called against both teams. Reynolds will draw contact and find herself at the free throw line, but is also confident in her 3-point shooting. Nine of her 11 points (including a pair of treys) came in the second quarter. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="258007" first="Kailey" last="Cheeks"] – 2022 – Newberry Academy</strong> – Cheeks was part of the starting five on Thursday evening for the Eagles. She finished with eight points and did all of her scoring in a couple of frames – the first and the third. Cheeks managed to absorb contact and find her way to the free throw line in the first quarter – one where the Eagles had a 10-9 over the host Crusaders after one. She also drained a couple of 3-pointers in the third quarter as well. Ironically, both quarters in which she scored happened to be the two quarters where Newberry Academy outscored Northside Christian. The Eagles had a 9-6 scoring edge over the Crusaders in the third stanza. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="299567" first="Layla" last="Parker"] – 2023 – Northside Christian Academy</strong> – The 2021-22 season is the first for Parker as part of the Crusaders. She transferred from one team with red and white as its signature colors (Westwood) to another with white and red as its signature colors in Northside Christian. A 5-foot-9 power forward, she was at the free throw line on lots of occasions throughout the game – particularly in the second, third and fourth quarters. In close contests such as this one, every score is a big score– including the six points she tallied and including the four made buckets Parker mustered from the charity stripe. <strong>Caroline Senn – 2022 – Newberry Academy</strong> – Senn also was one of the five starters for the Eagles. She too managed to stay out of foul trouble as she had only one called against her for the game. Senn finished with five points and scored four of those five in the second quarter. A good portion of what she did occurred at the free throw line. Senn only had one made shot from the field for the game, but she made three of her free throws. She is a consistent threat to put crooked numbers on the board as she showed with recent 12-point outings in Eagles victories over Augusta Prep and Cambridge Academy.