Columbus Grove’s Lauryn Auchmuty (left) competes for the ball against Crestview’s Mary Kulwicki during Thursday night’s game at Columbus Grove. See more high school basketball photos at LimaScores.com.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
COLUMBUS GROVE — Crestview’s Cali Gregory scored 32 points and the Knights held off a 3-point flurry in the second half to record a 53-46 win over the Bulldogs in a Northwest Conference clash Friday night.
With the win, the Knights improve to 2-1 in the conference and 4-2 overall. Columbus Grove slipped to 3-5 and 1-2 for the season.
Gregory, who finished with eight rebounds, scored 18 in the second half to help stave off the Bulldogs late sure in the second half, including a big 3-pointer that with the score tied at 42-42 with 4:34 left to give the Knights the breathing room to secure the victory.
Crestview head coach Mark Gregory admitted the team is starting to get into shape and that they just needed to “grind” this victory out.
“I was so proud of our girls for being patient on offense and looking for the right shot and the right opportunity,” coach Gregory said. “Our scoring right now is different every game but we have Cali and we have Laci (McCoy) and we have Ellie (Kline) that have been consistent for us. We also have Josie (Kulwicki) and Macy (Kulwicki). They are continuing to find their legs and find their shots.”
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Gregory pointed out that Macy Kulwicki, who finished with six points, hit a huge trey in the third period and Kline chipped in 8 points. McCoy did her part on the boards by snaring seven caroms.
Bulldog head coach Brian Schroeder said, “Obviously Crestview is a really good team and Gregory is a really good player and as a coach I have to do a better job of getting our team prepared to take away the team’s top player and we didn’t do a very good job of that tonight and we have to get better at that.
“I thought we played well. “Sage hit some three’s and she got going. We were able to generate some offense and we tied it in the 40’s and then Cali hit a three and that kind of deflated us a little bit. I was really happy with our girls effort we just have to keep working.”
For Columbus Grove, senior Sage Clement led the Bulldogs with 14 points and it was her four 3-pointers that enabled the Bulldogs to stay close. Owning a 27-21 advantage at halftime, Crestview opened up an 11-point advantage, 35-24, with 3:24 showing on the clock in the third quarter.
However, thanks to Bulldogs’ perimeter shooting led by Clement and Auchmuty narrowed the gap to 40-36 as the buzzer sounded for the final stanza.
Auchmuty, who finished with 12 points, never found her rhythm offensively as did her teammates throughout much of the game in large part due to the Knights’ throwing up a number of defensive looks to keep the Bulldogs’ off balanced that succeeded for the most part until the 3-point Bulldog barrage in the third period.
“Sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due and they made some big shots and different girls stepped up and made shots for them,” Gregory said. “We mixed up our defenses and that was key for us. We had to. We couldn’t just stay in one defense and I thought our girls did a really good job of that. Our girls haven’t really put in a lot of time with that and our girls did a great job talking on defense and making plays down the stretch.’
“She (Auchmuty) is a great player and we knew were going to have to pay a lot of attention to her. But credit their girls making up shots.”
Even though the season has not reached the midway point, Gregory said this was a big win on the road that keeps them in the hunt for the NWC title.
“Any win right now is big for us but on the road here at Grove against a well-coached team is big,” Gregory said. “I am proud of our girls.”
As for Columbus Grove, Schroeder, who’s team has faced a lot of stiff competition in the early part of the season, continues to see progress. The Bulldogs’ other losses have come to Bath, Allen East, Liberty-Benton and Kalida.
“I know we are not where we want to be right now,” Schroeder said. “I think our schedule at the beginning of the year is pretty good and I like the way we are trending and excited where we will be at in January and February.”
Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.
