MOUND CITY — On a night in which Crest High’s Lady Lancers struggled mightily to score down the stretch, a pair of key defensive stops helped seal a 30-28 win over Jayhawk-Linn.
Crest was held to a single field goal over the final 9½ minutes of the game, but the Lady Lancers fended off a pair of Jayhawk challenges in the waning seconds.
The first came courtesy of Kaelin Nilges, who stole the ball in the Jayhawk frontcourt, and Crest nursing a 29-28 lead with 41 seconds remaining. Aylee Beckmon went 1-2 from the line on Crest’s subsequent possession to make it 30-28.
The Jayhawks then got the ball inside to Brylin Bogan, but her shot attempt was blocked cleanly by Crest’s Kinley Edgerton. The ball squirted out of bounds, off a Jayhawk-Linn player, giving possession back to the Lancers.
Crest was able to use up the final 26 or so seconds by playing keep-away and preventing Jayhawk-Linn from fouling or getting a steal.
After a slow start by both teams, Crest took the lead on Nilges’s field goal early in the second period, and nursed a 16-12 cushion at halftime.
Beckmon scored twice on layups and Cursten Allen came off the bench for a key 3-pointer as Crest moved ahead 25-18 late in the third. Kayla Hermreck’s putback with 1:45 left in the period helped maintain the seven-point lead.
But Crest’s offense didn’t score again until Beckmon threw in a driving layup with about 2:45 left in the game, just after the Jayhawks’ Brea Dawson drained a jumper to slice Crest’s lead to 27-25.
The lead was 29-25 when Jayhawk-Linn’s Callie Holt drilled a 3-pointer with 1:34 left to slice the margin to a single point.
Crest missed on a pair of free throws with a minute left, setting the stage for the Lady Lancers’ late defensive stops.
Beckmon led Crest with 13 points, followed by Allen with six and Hermreck with five.
Dawson paced the Jayhawks with 10 points, but fouled out with 3 minutes left.
Both teams also had cold nights at the free throw line. Crest hit 2 of 12 attempts; Jayhawk-Linn 1 of 10.
The win lifts Crest to 4-2 on the season with a road tilt at Altoona-Midway coming Friday.
Crest (6-10-11-3—30)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Nilges 1 0 1 2
Beckmon 6 1 3 13
Hermreck 2 1 2 5
Boots 1 0 1 2
Allen 0/2 0 0 6
Edgerton 1 0 4 2
Totals 11/2 2 11 30
Jayhawk-Linn (6-6-9-7—28)
Holt 1/1 0 3 5
Wade 1 0 1 2
Bren. Brogan 1 0 3 2
Bril. Bogan 0 0 1 0
Kempinger 0 1 1 1
Dawson 5 0 5 10
McGrew 1 0 0 2
Totals 14 1 17 28
