Crestview girls eke out win over Cougs

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

Although neither team burned up the nets, the Crestview Lady Knights made a 4-point first half lead stand up, eking out a 1-point victory, 30-29, over Van Wert in the Cougar’s Den in a non-conference girls’ basketball game on Monday evening.

After a first quarter that saw the two teams combine for a total of 8 points, with the Knights scoring six of those to take a four-point lead at the end of the period, both teams scored 9 points in the second stanza as Crestview maintained its lead, 15-11, at the half.

The Cougars began creeping up in the third quarter, outscoring Crestview 10-8 to trail by a basket, 23-21, as the fourth quarter began. Van Wert again outscored the Knights, but only by a point, in the final quarter as Crestview did just enough to get out of town with the victory.

The Knights Maddie Preston was the game’s top scorer with 13 points and was the only Crestview player in double figures. And while Crestview’s defense did a good job of stopping the Cougars’ top scorer, Alex Morrow, who was held to just five points, Molly Gamble took up the slack, scoring 11 points for Van Wert, also that team’s only double-digit scorer.

Both teams were hot at the foul line, with the Knights a perfect 3 of 3 (100 percent), while Van Wert hit 5 of 7 for 71.4 percent.

With the win, Crestview is now 7-5 overall and sports a 4-1 record in the Northwest Conference. The loss drops the Cougars to 3-11 overall, while they are winless at 0-5 in the Western Buckeye League.

Van Wert next hosts Defiance on Thursday in a WBL match-up in the Cougar’s Den, starting at 6 p.m., while the Knights go on the road again tonight to face cross-county and NWC foe Lincolnview on the Lancers’ home court. That game will begin at 5 p.m.

No information was released on a junior varsity game.