Lady Knights fall to DSJ 59-43

Wyatt Richardson/special to the VW independent

DELPHOS — It was an upbeat and physical game between the Crestview Lady Knights and the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays with St. John’s winning the battle 59-43 at Robert Autzen Gymnasium on Saturday.

Crestview (2-3) scored the first five points of the game but Paige Gaynier answered with five of her own to tie it 5-5 with four minutes left in the first quarter. After a free throw by Raegan Hammons, St. John’s scored five to lead 13-6 after the first quarter.

Delphos St. John’s (3-2) started the second quarter by hitting a pair three-pointers, one by Melanie Koenig and the other by Erika Moenter to take a 18-6 lead. Crestview found some rhythm and traded baskets with St. John’s and cut it within eight points before Koenig found the baskets for 2 points pushing the lead to 25-15.

Paige Gaynier hit a pair of free throws before Lexi Gregory nailed a trey to cut the deficit to nine, 27-18, with 1:17 remaining, but the Blue Jays scored the next 3 points, a free throw by Hannah Will and a last second layup by Koenig to lead 30-18 at the half.

Koenig went on to finish with 15 points, while Gaynier tallied 14.

Crestview’s Kaylee Wolford started the third quarter off with a bucket before St John’s scored the next five points to lead 37-20. The Lady Knights responded by scoring the next four points, all by junior Olivia Cunningham to trail by 13, but Aubrie Friemoth, who had 14 points, answered with a three pointer to lead 40-24 late in the third. After three free throws by Lexi Gregory and a basket by Abby Buettner, the score was 42-27 after three quarters.

Friemoth hit a three to start the final period to lead 45-27. After Bailey Gregory hit a pair of free throws, St. John’s scored the next six points to lead 51-29. Lexi Gregory who led Crestview in scoring with 14, answered with six points of her own to trail by 16, 51-35. Paige Gaynier scored four straight points to extend the lead to 20. The Lady Knights were able to connect on six free throws and a basket down the stretch

“Overall we felt like it was like the other night with Spencerville,” Crestview head coach Mark Gregory said. “We were on the side of things as for as toughness goes, but we weren’t getting rebounds and weren’t getting lose balls and I felt like in the second half if we would do that we could have found ourselves back into the game.”

St John’s shot 48 percent from the floor and 81 percent from the free throw line, while Crestview shot 25 percent from the floor and 83 percent from the foul line.

The Blue Jays will host St. Marys Memorial on Tuesday, and Crestview will entertain Columbus Grove on Thursday.

Scoring summary

St. John’s 13 17 12 17 – 59
Crestview 6 12 9 16 – 43

Crestview: Kaylee Wolford 1-2-4, Bailey Gregory 2-4-8, Kylie Etzler 1-1-4, Lexi Gregory 4-5-14, Laci McCoy 2-0-4, Reagan Hammons 1-1-3, Olivia Cunningham 2-2-6

Delphos St. John’s: Melanie Koenig 6-3-15, Paige Gaynier 4-5-14, Erika Moenter 2-1-5, Hannah Will 2-3-7, Abby Buettner 1-0-2, Lillyan Vanderwell 1-0-2, Aubrie Friemoth 4-2-14