Crestview falls to No. 1 Fort Loramie

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

DAYTON — The No. 1 team in Division IV flexed their muscles against Crestview during Thursday’s state semifinal game at UD Arena at the University of Dayton.

Fort Loramie, the 2020-2021 Associated Press poll champion, took control early and went on to defeat the Lady Knights 66-24, ending Crestview’s memorable season at 23-4.

“I’m extremely proud of my team,” Crestview head coach Mark Gregory said. “This team truly has come together and has formed a truly awesome bond and I’m just so proud of them.”

Both coaches agreed Fort Loramie’s depth was just too much for Crestview to overcome. The Redskins used a nine-player rotation for much of the game.

“As I was watching our kids out there, sucking air and struggling as the game went on I really felt like that was a big part of (it),” Gregory said. “Their bench was so better than ours and they don’t have a dropoff. We pretty much played seven or eight all year long and I think that definitely caught up to us today.”

“I think year we have a good six or seven girls who can start for us and when you have those players coming off the bench and their kicking up the same level of play that the starters are playing, that’s just an added bonus,” Fort Loramie head coach Carla Siegel said. “Everybody puts five great players on the floor in a state tournament and when you can rely on your bench to go in, it’s an added bonus that we have at Fort Loramie.”

The Redskins (28-1), who led from start to finish, jumped out to an early 8-3 lead but a pair of baskets by Olivia Cunningham and one by Laci McCoy pulled Crestview to within one, 10-9. However, Fort Loramie closed the quarter with seven unanswered points and carried a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.

“I was very upset in the first quarter, I didn’t think our rebounding was very good and I thought Crestview was getting too many second looks,” Siegel said. “I think maybe it was the fatigue on their part but I think we did a better job in the last three quarters keeping them off the boards.”

The lead ballooned to 27-13 with about five minutes left in the second period, then Fort Loramie went on a 13-5 run to make to 40-18 at halftime. Dana Rose scored eight of her 22 points in the quarter and the Redskins forced Crestview into 16 turnovers in the first half, while out-rebounding the Lady Knights 16-10.

Fort Loramie’s Kenzie Hoelscher took over in the third quarter, scoring eight of her 12 points to help boost the lead to 58-22 at the end of the period. Cali Gregory scored all four of Crestview’s points in the quarter, and the 5-8 freshman scored her team’s only two points in the final period, which was played with a continuous clock. She was Crestview’s leading scorer with six points, while Bailey Gregory had five.

“Their length, their defensive intensity was as good as I’ve seen,” coach Gregory said. “We played a lot of good teams in our conference and in the tournament, but their length was phenomenal and they just do such a great job of getting in the passing lanes. They do a good job of capitalizing on mistakes.”

Fort Loramie finished the game 25-of-54 shooting and 11-of-15 from the foul line, compared to 11-of-36 and 1-of-4 for Crestview. The Redskins had a slight rebounding advantage, 30-27 wtih Rose pulling down seven. Cunningham had five boards for the Lady Knights. Fort Loramie had just three turnovers in the game, all in the first half, while Crestview had 24, leading to 34 Fort Loramie points.

The game was the final one for seven seniors on the roster – Cunningham, Breena Grace, Bailey Gregory, Kylie Etzler, Mandy Macki, Raegan Hammons and Adalynn Longstreth.

Fort Loramie will face McDonald in the championship game at 10:45 on Saturday.

Scoring summary

Fort Loramie 17 23 18 8 – 66
Crestview 9 9 4 2 – 24

Fort Loramie: Caitlyn Gasson 4-0-8; Corynn Heitkamp 4-2-10; Kenzie Hoelscher 4-4-12; Dana Rose 8-4-22; Colleen Brandewie 2-1-6; Ava Sholtis 3-0-6; Clara Gephart 0-2-2

Crestview: Bailey Gregory 2-0-5; Cali Gregory 3-0-6; Laci McCoy 1-1-3; Myia Etzler 1-0-2; Olivia Cunningham 2-0-4; Brynn Putman 2-0-4