COLONY- When Lady Lancer Kurston Gilliland made a layup with 2:14 left on the clock against the Marmaton Valley High Wildcats Friday night, she gave Crest High its first lead of the season.
That’s all the Lady Lancers needed as they held on to earn their first victory of the 2011-2012 season, beating the Wildcats 21-19.
Both teams started slow, scoring a combined five first quarter points. Sloppy ball handling and poor shooting plagued the Lady Lancers and the Wildcats in the second period as well. Marmaton Valley led 9-6 at half.
A resilient Lady Lancer team didn’t let the poor performance early in the game discourage. Crest opened the third period with high energy, diving for loose balls and fighting for every rebound.
Those hustle plays gave the Crest offense a much needed spark. The Lady Lancers put up seven third-period points, surpassing their total scoring production of the first half.
“I told them there are things we have to do right if we want to come back – fundamentals,” said Crest head coach Daniel Buller, who made his debut as head coach Friday.
Still, Crest found itself down 15-13 going into the final quarter, but a sputtering Wildcat offense gave the Lady Lancers life late. Down by two-points with 3:30 to play, a Gilliland score from under the glass had Crest and Marmaton Valley tied 19-19.
After trading possessions, Crest’s Katrina Strickler drove to the basket. When she couldn’t get the layup to fall, once again, Gilliland was there for the rebound and the put back, scoring the final two points of her game-high 14 points and giving the Lady Lancers a 21-19 victory. Crest is now 1-5 overall and 1-0 in Three Rivers League play. The Wildcats fell to 0-7 on the season and 0-2 in league play.
“It’s just a matter of effort and they came through,” Buller said, referring his team’s ability to muster the comeback.
Crest’s Madison Keller contributed three points of here own and teammate Shayla Stephens added two points.
Leading scorer for the Wildcats was Kailey Boyd with 13 points on five field goals and one three pointer; and teammates Kacie Shadden, MyRyiah Cavender and Kaitlin Ensminger had two points each.
Crest (2-4-7-8-21) (FG/3-pt): Stephens 2-0-1-2, Frank 0-0-1-0, Strickler 0-0-2-0, Gilliland 6-2-0-14, Holman 0-0-3-0, Keller 1-1-0-3, Covey 0-0-2-0, Bradshaw 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 9/0-3-10-21.
MV (3-6-8-9-28): Ensminger 1-0-4-2, Lance 0-0-1-0, Cavender 1-0-0-2, Boyd 5/1-0-1-13, Shadden 0-2-0-2, Meiwes 0-0-1-0, Ford 0-0-3-0. TOTALS: 7/1-2-10-19.
Lady Lancers net first win
