HUMBOLDT — Thursday’s 31-24 victory by Humboldt High’s girls over Crest most likely won’t go down as a work of art, Lady Cub head coach Aubrey Jones admitted.
“We definitely struggled offensively,” Jones said. “I don’t know if we were tired, but we were a little stagnant.” But, she quickly noted, Humboldt made the biggest plays down the stretch.
Humboldt’s Ricklyn Hillmon and McKenna Jones both hit 3-pointers after Crest had pulled to within one and Kenisyn Hottenstein hit a pair of clutch free throws to put the game away in the last minute.
Jones credited Crest’s ball movement as one of the sources of Humboldt’s struggles.
“And I think we were a little fearful of going inside,” Jones said, pointing to Humboldt’s struggles from the free throw line two nights earlier in a one-point win over Uniontown.
Crest, which is still dealing with assorted illnesses amid a three-games-fournights stretch, spotted Humboldt the game’s first seven points, but forged back into the game with offensive rebounding.
The Lady Lancers were given multiple second-chance points, which allowed them to pare Humboldt’s lead to 15-10 at halftime. Aylee Beckmon and Kaelin Nilges both scored twice in the third quarter, while Kinley Edgerton scored on a putback to pull Crest with 21-20 late in the third quarter.
But Crest came up empty on two late possessions in the period that would have given the team its first lead of the night.
Hillmon’s trey opened the fourth quarter before Edgerton hit a pair of free throws and another bucket to make it 25-24.
But Jones’s 3-pointer with 3 1/2 minutes left pushed the lead back to four, and Crest went scoreless for the rest of the night.
Hottenstein went 2-for-2, and Hillmon added a charity for the final margin..
“We struggled with our box-outs, but we did better at the end,” Jones said. “We just need to double down on our rebounding efforts, and take care of the ball.”
Jones paced the victors with 13 points, followed by Hottenstein with nine. Edgerton scored nine and Beckmon eight for Crest.
Both teams wrapped up the Humboldt Preseason Tournament Friday evening. Results were not available by press time.
Crest (3-7-10-4—24)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Nilges 2 0 2 4
Beckmon 4 0 4 8
H. Schmidt 0 0 1 0
Hermreck 0 0 2 0
C. Allen 1 1 1 3
Edgerton 3 3 2 9
Totals 10 4 12 24
Humboldt (7-8-6-10—31)
S. Hottenstein 0 0 4 0
Jones 2/3 0 0 13
K. Hottenstein 2/1 2 0 9
Shaughnessy 1 3 0 5
HIllmon 0/1 1 2 4
Hull 0 0 2 0
Ellison 0 0 1 0
Totals 5/5 6 11 31
