Lady Knights win sectional championship

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

It wasn’t pretty, but the Crestview Lady Knights captured a Division III sectional championship with a 28-19 win over Hicksville at Van Wert High School on Saturday night.

The victory avenged 44-28 regular season loss to the Lady Aces, and it extended Crestview’s winning streak to 12 games.

“A win is a win is a win is what I told the girls,” Crestview head coach Mark Gregory said. “We did what we had to do to get past them.”

Paige Motycka and Ally McCoy each hit baskets to open the scoring for the Lady Knights (18-6), and Crestview’s defense held Hicksville (18-5) scoreless for more than half of the first quarter. Harlee Shuman’s foul shot put the Lady Aces on the board with just over three minutes left in the period, but Lexi Gregory drained a trey to give Crestview a 7-1 lead, then McCoy connected from the paint to extend the advantage to 9-1.

The Lady Knights began the second quarter with a 10-3 lead. After a free throw by Hicksville’s Addison Bergman, Motycka countered with one of her own, then McCoy scored again, followed by a bucket by Motycka and two foul shots by Lyvia Black for a 17-4 lead. Bergman was responsible for Hicksville’s only other point of the period with a late free throw.

“Bergman’s such a great player and we didn’t want to give her anything easy tonight, and I thought we did a really good job on her,” Gregory said.

Bergman, who came into the game averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds, was held to five points and two rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Knights scored just three points in the third quarter – a free throw by Motycka and a bucket by Gregory. Hicksville tallied 10 points in the period, including four each by Micah Schroeder and Lexi Kerns, but Crestview led 20-15 entering the fourth quarter.

“In the second half they (Hicksville) hit some shots and earned them, and they were more aggressive in attacking the basket,” Gregory said.

A pair of foul shots by Motycka extended Crestview’s lead to 22-15, but baskets by Bergman and Kerns trimmed the deficit to three, 22-19. A bucket by Moytycka with 2:40 gave the Lady Knights a 24-19 advantage, then a minute later McCoy sealed the victory with three offensive rebounds and two shots from the foul line.

“Ally McCoy was such a great player tonight,” Gregory said of the 5-9 senior. “She did so many good things defensively, rebounding and that series where she got three offensive rebounds, got fouled and went to the free throw line – that was critical, that was huge, and I can’t say enough about what she did tonight.”

McCoy finished the game with eight points and five rebounds, while Motycka led all scorers with 11 points to go along with six rebounds.

Crestview will play Coldwater (19-5) in the district semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday night at Elida High School. The two teams met January 16, with Coldwater winning 60-43.

Scoring summary:

Hicksville 3 2 10 4 – 19
Crestview 10 7 3 8 – 28

Hicksville: Katelyn Bergman 1-0-2; Micah Schroeder 2-0-4; Lexi Kerns 2-2-6; Addison Bergman 0-5-5; Harlee Shuman 1-1-3; Emily Sanders 1-0-2

Crestview: Lyvia Black 0-4-4; Lexi Gregory 2-0-5; Ally McCoy 3-2-8; Paige Motycka 3-5-11