Lady Knights roll to regional title game

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

ELIDA — Tiffin Calvert entered Wednesday’s Division IV regional semifinal game with previous tournament wins over the top two seeds in the Fostoria district, and the Senecas came in allowing just 29 points per game in tournament play.

No. 4 Crestview scored 29 points less than three minutes into the second quarter, and the Lady Knights rolled to a 65-40 win over the Senecas at the Elida Fieldhouse. The victory set up an all Northwest Conference regional championship game between Crestview (25-2) and Columbus Grove. The Bulldogs (21-5) defeated Gibsonburg 53-44 in the first game of the night.

Crestview stunned Calvert by sprinting out to a 14-2 first quarter lead before enjoying a 23-8 advantage at the end of the period. Cali Gregory accounted for 11 points in the quarter and Ellie Kline added seven points.

“That was huge,” Crestview head coach Mark Gregory said. “I told the girls we had to get out early like we have been and kudos for our girls for making plays not only on the offensive end but the defensive end. That’s where we’ve really thrived this year, is at the defensive end and making plays and scoring off of our defense.”

“We turned them over quite a bit and we took care of the basketball and that was the biggest difference tonight,” he added.

The Senecas (17-9) were harassed into 20 turnovers during the game, compared to just seven by Crestview. Along with that, the Lady Knights finished with a 33-21 rebounding advantage.

The pace slowed a bit in the second quarter, but Crestvew expanded the lead to 36-16 at halftime. Gregory, Kaci Gregory and Myia Ezler accounted for all of Crestview’s points in the period.

Cali Gregory added eight more points in the third quarter and the Lady Knights carried a 50-31 lead into the fourth quarter. Gregory finished with 30 points and in the process, became Van Wert County’s all-time leading scorer, with 1,914 career points, surpassing Cory Sinning of Van Wert.

“The third quarter, I wasn’t super pleased with that but sometimes that happens when you have a big lead,” the coach said.

Etzler finished with 12 points for Crestview and Kaci Gregory added 10 points. Alyssa Rishty led Calvert with 18 points, including 13 in the second half, while Kate Coleman added 11 points.

Ironically, the same two teams met in the regionals during volleyball season, with the Senecas winning the match. However, Gregory said revenge wasn’t a motivating factor on Wednesday.

“We didn’t talk one time about volleyball losing, that had nothing to do with it,” Gregory said. “It was just about coming out and doing what we wanted to do because we can’t go on to Saturday without tonight, so we were just focused to get this win tonight.”

The Lady Knights and Columbus Grove will play for the regional title at 1 p.m. Saturday back at Elida. The two teams met on January 4, with Crestview posting a 52-39 victory.

“It all starts with Lauryn Auchmuty (29 points vs. Gibsonburg),” Gregory stated. “She’s a deadly scorer, she takes care of the basketball, makes plays for her teammates if you try to double-team her, and she makes you pay. She’s a huge threat and then (Nicole) Nesby does a great job inside and their support players do a great job defensively and they know their roles.”

“They’re very similar to us and I’m very excited,” he added. How cool is it to have two NWC teams batting it out to go to state?”

Box score

Crestview 23 13 14 15 – 65
T. Calvert 8 8 15 9 – 40

Crestview: Peyton Hoffman 1-0-2; Kaci Gregory 2-4-9; Ellie Kline 2-4-9; Cali Gregory 12-4-30; Myia Etzler 5-2-12; Kennedy Crider 1-0-2

Calvert: Kaleigh Concepcion 2-0-4; Alyssa Rishty 6-4-18; Megan Rombach 0-3-3; Carleigh Meier 2-0-4; Kate Coleman 4-1-11