YATES CENTER — A dominating night on the boards turned into an easy win for Crest High’s girls Friday.
The Lady Lancers wrapped up the 2024-25 regular season by controlling a hefty rebound advantage over host Yates Center, which in turn became multiple second-chance points in a 59-29 victory.
“They’re physical, and they’re an aggressive team,” Yates Center head coach Eric Busteed said. “They got after it, and we got caught watching them. We didn’t box out, and we didn’t rebound.”
“Overall, we did a pretty good job,” Crest head coach Steve Zimmerman said, “although we came out a little flat.”
Crest kept Yates Center scoreless through the game’s first six minutes before Wildcat sophomore Cayten Cummings erupted for 10 points in a 2-minute span to keep Yates Center within 16-10 after one period.
But multiple offensive rebounds and putbacks in the second quarter quickly put the game out of reach. Six Lady Lancers scored as part of an 18-7 run to give Crest a 36-17 lead at the break.
Another strong third quarter pushed Crest’s lead to 53-25. Aylee Beckmon scored to start Crest’s fourth quarter, stretching the lead to 30 and triggering a running clock the rest of the way.
Karlee Boots and Beckmon led the Lady Lancers with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Jaycee Schmidt, Gracyn Ellington and Summer Valentine added six apiece.
Cummings put forth another sterling effort in a losing cause. She scored spt-25 of Yates Center’s 29 points.
“She’s a great player,” Busteed said. “We just need to get a little help from the other girls, for them to score and have confidence they can score.”
The only blemish for Crest came when starting forward Kinley Edgerton exited the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter.
“Unfortunately, it’s the same ankle she hurt a couple weeks ago,” Zimmerman said. “She’s a tough girl. Hopefully, she recovers quickly.”
If Crest (11-7) was to prevail against Sedan, the Lady Lancers would return to the court Saturday at Olpe (12-7). Yates Center (4-16) will trek to Cottonwood Falls Thursday to take on Chase County (17-3) to open their Class 2A Substate Tournament. The winner will face either Bluestem (12-7) or Uniontown (8-10) March 5 in the semifinals.
Crest (17-18-18-6—59)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Schmidt 1/1 1 2 6
Walter 0 1 3 1
Beckmon 5/1 4 3 17
Ellington 3 0 1 6
Boots 7 4 2 18
Allen 0/1 0 4 3
Edgerton 1 0 0 2
Valentine 2 2 2 6
Totals 19/3 12 17 59
YC (10-7-8-4—29)
Birk 0 0 4 0
Kirkpatrick 0 0 1 0
Cummings 9/1 4 4 25
Burkholder 0 3 3 3
Chambers 0 1 1 1
Rice 0 0 3 0
Totals 9/1 8 16 29
