The Lady Shoes put together a strong second quarter and expanded their lead. Chloe Probst hit a jumper and Anna Probst followed with another from long range, making it a 13-point margin, 20-7, and igniting a scoring run. Isabelle Zerrusen made a pair of foul shots and both Chloe and Anna Probst connected yet again from deep, capping the 15-5 run and expanding the lead to 30-12.
At halftime, THS owned a 31-16 advantage.
“Anna played really well tonight,” Thompson said. “As soon as she stepped on the floor, she was focused. That first shot hit nothing but net and seemed to loosen us up. It was exactly what we needed. She did a great job.”
Things changed again when the second half began. The Lady Trojans’ pressure caused problems and they quickly made a game of it.
Three straight turnovers resulted in six straight points. Two more turnovers resulted in a three from Maggie Ravencraft and a bucket by Avery Braden. Alaina Park then grabbed a rebound and scored, capping a 15-6 surge and trimming the gap to six points, 35-29, just four minutes into the third quarter.
Maroa-Forsyth then ran off seven more points, with Ravencraft knocking down another three, and the Lady Trojans were with a single point, 39-38. It was a three-point spread, 43-40, entering the final eight minutes.
“In that third quarter, we got complacent, a little scared and even panicked a bit,” Thompson said. “We’ve blown some leads this year because we haven’t stayed focused for 32 minutes. But I thought we bounced back and played better in the fourth quarter.”
After a basket by Kalli Kahler got the Lady Trojans to within 43-42, Anna Probst struck again. First, she drove to the basket, scored, got fouled and completed a three-point play. Then on the next possession, she hit a three-pointer. Chloe Probst then added a basket after snaring an offensive rebound and the lead was back to nine points, 51-42.
Maroa-Forsyth got within 52-48 with 48 seconds to play, but Chloe Probst made three free throws and Anna Probst added another in the final 32 seconds to secure the victory.
“I took off the press and went to a halfcourt man-to-man,” Thompson said. “Then we played a little zone. I tried to mix things up; give them a couple different looks. I think it helped. We cut off their drives to the basket and also created a couple turnovers.”
The Lady Trojans, who ended their season at 24-7, got 12 points from Kahler, 11 from Braden and 10 from Park.
Anna Probst led all scorers with 21 points, while Chloe Probst scored 15 and Zerrusen added 12. Chloe Probst finished with a double-double, also pulling down 10 rebounds, while Zerrusen grabbed seven boards to help THS have a 33-28 advantage.
The Lady Shoes shot 40 percent for the game, connecting on 19-of-47 attempts. They were 6-for-11 from three-point range and 12-for-18 at the line.
Teutopolis improved to 21-11.