Crestview pulls away from Van Wert

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

CONVOY — Crestview’s Cali Gregory scored 20 points and the Lady Knights shook off a slow start to defeat county rival Van Wert 58-40 at Ray Etzler Gymnasium Monday night.

Van Wert’s Kyra Welch scored seven points in the first period and the Lady Cougars led 12-6 with 1:30 left in the period, but back-to-back buckets by Gregory with less than 11 seconds left helped pull the Lady Knights to within one, 12-11 at the end of the quarter.

“We got off to a hot start and then they converted on a couple of quick turnovers and momentum went their way,” Van Wert head coach Hannah Phlipot said. “I feel like we were chasing to claw back since that moment.”

Gregory added five more points in the second quarter and Crestview expanded the lead to 20-12 before Sayler Wise drained a triple with 3:40 remaining in the period. A bucket by Lexi Barnhart with 1:55 pulled the Lady Cougars to within three, 23-20, but Macy Kulwicki added a basket and free throw late to make it 26-22 at halftime.

Myia Etzler and Laci McCoy scored the first six points of the third quarter to put Crestview ahead 32-22. A triple by Kyra Welch made it 34-29 midway through the period, but that was as close as the Lady Cougars would get.

Ellie Kline went on to score five consecutive points and Gregory closed the period with a trey that gave the Lady Knights a 48-35 advantage entering the final quarter.

“Cali’s been doing that for us all year long and I can’t say enough about her and what she’s been doing as a player and as a leader on this team, Crestview head coach Mark Gregory said.

“Little things got us tonight, things like rebounds and second chance points,” Phlipot said. “They’re very athletic and I think they were a couple of inches taller than us at every position so we were going to try to be scrappy, and I thought our girls did a good job being scrappy. It was a physical game both ways but again, it just came down to little things, crucial turnovers on our part, second chance points and they hit some big shots kept momentum on their side.”

Despite the loss, Phlipot was able to find some positives.

“Their press didn’t bother us and we were able to get out in transition a couple of times,” the coach said. “Our half court defense wasn’t bad and we got into some passing lanes.”

“I can’t say enough about Van Wert and their effort tonight,” Gregory said. “I knew they were going to come in and play hard and make things really difficult for us on the defensive end, but I was really pleased with our girls and our patience on offense.”

Welch led Van Wert with 13 points and Sofi Houg added 11. As a team, the Lady Cougars were 13-of-38 shooting and 10-of-18 from the foul line.

Crestview was 24-of-49 shooting and 6-of-11 from the free throw line while enjoying a 33-14 rebounding advantage with Etzler pulling down seven and McCoy and Emily Greulach each adding six.

It was Senior Night for the Lady Knights and Gregory praised his four seniors – Greulach, Putman, Lauren Walls and Kylee Reno.

“I have four seniors out there and they bleed red, white and blue,” Gregory said. “It makes you feel really good when they could come out tonight and give us a little something.”

Van Wert (9-6) will host state ranked Ottawa-Glandorf on Thursday while Crestview (12-3) will play at Delphos Jefferson in a key NWC game the same night.

Box score

Crestview 11 15 22 10 – 58
Van Wert 12 10 13 5 – 40

Crestview: Brynn Putman 2-0-4; Macy Kulwicki 1-1-3; Ellie Kline 4-0-9; Cali Gregory 9-1-20; Laci McCoy 4-3-13; Myia Etzler 4-1-9

Van Wert: Carlee Young 0-2-2; Kayla Krites 0-1-1; Lexi Barnhart 1-0-3; Sayler Wise 1-0-3; Kyra Welch 5-1-13; Sofi Houg 4-3-11; Emilee Phillips 2-1-5; Maria Bagley 0-2-2

JV: Crestview 30-9