The Crestline Lady Bulldogs traveled to The Furnace at Mansfield Christian School for a Thursday night girls varsity basketball. The Lady Bulldogs won the non-conference matchup, 41-34.
Crestline leaped out to a 9-4 first quarter lead, but that wouldn’t last long.
Senior point guard Mariah Stearns scored both of the Flames first quarter baskets. A swarming Lady Flames press forced turnovers and hurried shots to quickly erase the Lady Bulldogs’ lead. The effort resulted in a 16 point comeback for the Lady Flames. Stearns accounted for 11 of her teams 20 points at half.
“For a senior, she really stepped up her game, the past two games, since the Plymouth game, she’s led us in scoring, said Lady Flames head coach J.R. Wilson. “She’s really stepped up; [I’m] very proud of her – she’s really worked hard.”
On the other side of the gym, Crestline, down, 20-18 with an evaporated lead, Crestline head coach Bobby Gossom had a simple message for his team throughout the game. “Stay consistent and stay positive. We tend to – when thing start going bad or when they don’t go our way – we kind of hang our heads a little and let it get to us,” he said.
That advice seemed to stick with the Lady Bulldogs after the half. Entering the fourth, the Lady Bulldogs were still down 31-27 but their head coach noticed something different.
“We came out with some energy,” said Gossom. “This time the message at halftime was come out here and get that lead back. Chip away at it. It’s not gonna happen in one or two possessions. And it’s going to take the course of the third quarter.”
This time it was the Lady Bulldogs’ turn to erase a lead. Crestline piled on 14 points in the fourth quarter and quieted the Lady Flames to just 4 points.
The Lady Flames were simply unable to score. “We really don’t have that one go-to player for scoring,” noted Wilson “And when they got into our zone that seemed to, for whatever reason, throw us off.”
The season has not been an easy one for either team. The Lady Bulldogs have 2 wins on the season and are winless in the North Central Conference. The Lady Flames, comprised 4 upperclassmen and 6 underclassmen, are 3-10 on the year and rank 5th in the Mid Buckeye Conference.
When asked about the progress his squad has been able to develop this year, Wilson responded, “The progress, as far as the way the team is coming together, believing in themselves, things like that, I’m happy about.” He also issued his team a challenge, “I told them that this is going to reveal what kind of character we have, as far as coming out in the next game and seeing how we respond. I’m challenging the team to really step up. So moving forward, I’m looking forward to good things.”
The Lady Bulldogs’ Alyssa Hayman posted a game high 18 points. Tara Hensley added 9 points.
For the game, Stearns lead the Flames with 15 points. Addie Daughtery added 6 points on the night.
MCS won the junior varsity matchup 31-21.
