Crestview’s Cali Gregory shoots against Fort Loramie’s Avery Brandewie, left, and Jaden Rose during Thursday’s Division IV state semifinal at UD Arena.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
DAYTON — History repeated itself at UD Arena on Thursday afternoon.
Crestview’s state championship hopes ended in the state semifinals against Fort Loramie, the same team that knocked them out at the same stage in 2021.
But unlike that 66-24 loss three seasons ago that was really never close, Crestview led for a good portion of three quarters on Thursday until Fort Loramie’s Avery Brandewie scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, spearheading a 15-2 to run that gave the Redskins a 50-41 win.
Brandewie had 16 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 of 12 from the free throw line and a nearly perfect 6 of 7 from the field.
“I had to get the passes from somewhere, so it’s hard for me to take all the credit,” Brandewie said. “My teammates opened up looks for me. They allowed the floor to space out and we’re a team. That’s the way we play.”
Fort Loramie coach Carla Siegel said that Brandewie had that look in her eye in the fourth quarter, and that’s what let her know that everything was fine despite her team playing from behind for all but eight minutes.
“She had a one-foot, one-handed shot that went in,” Siegel said. “I was thinking ‘What is she doing?’ then it went in and I said ‘Good, now I know.
“Today was a game of adversity for us. We got down and we kept fighting back. I can’t say enough about the way these girls didn’t show any defeat on the floor no matter what the score was.”
Crestview led 11-7 at the end of the first quarter. Their lead grew as high as eight points in the second quarter as they entered the break up 23-19.
Fort Loramie opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run to go in front 27-23, and Crestview responded with eight straight points to go back up four.
Cali Gregory scored six of her 22 points in the third quarter, including a drive to the hoop with 2:23 left to make it 33-29. Crestview wouldn’t score again until Fort Loramie had gone up six with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter.
“They ramped up their intensity on defense in the second half,” Crestview coach Mark Gregory said of Fort Loramie. “That’s something we knew they would do. They also used their depth to their advantage and wore us down. In the game of basketball, it all comes down to hitting shots and we weren’t able to hit as many as we did in the first half.”
Crestview went just 3 of 16 in the fourth quarter, with all three field goals coming from Cali Gregory. Fort Loramie went 4 of 6 from the field and 13 of 16 from the free throw line in the closing minutes.
Fort Loramie hit 16 of its 33 total shots from the field for 48 percent, compared to 13 of 50 and 26 percent for Crestview. The Knights held a slight advantage on the boards, 29-27, and won the turnover battle 13-12.
Crestview ended its season with a record of 26-3.
“I’m just so proud of our girls, our community, and our families,” Gregory said. “They’ve made this special for us all year long. This team was on a fun run and I can’t tell you how hard that last conversation is. Everything these girls have done both on and off the court are things to be proud of. It’s a year that I’ll never forget.”
Fort Loramie (27-2) returns to Dayton on Saturday at 10:45 a.m. to square off with Waterford for the Division IV state title.
Carla Siegel said, “We’re just going to have to be aggressive (against Waterford) and move the ball because we know they’ll be blocking our shots all over the place with their size. We need to get to our sweet spots in the corners and the elbows so we can attack the openings on their zone.”
Fort Loramie 51, Crestview 41
Score by quarters
Crestview 11 12 10 8 — 41
Fort Loramie 7 12 10 21 — 50
CRESTVIEW
Cali Gregory 22, Ellie Kline 10, Kaci Gregory 7, Myia Etzler 2, Totals: 13-9-41
FORT LORAMIE
Avery Brandewie 22, Victoria Mescher 9, Skyler Albers 6, Jaden Rose 4, Summer Hoying 4, Maddie Shatto 3, Ariel Heitkamp 2, Totals 16-16-51
Three-point goals: CV — C. Gregory 4, K. Gregory 1, Ellie Kline 1; FL — Rose 1, Shatto 1.
Records — Crestview 26-3; Fort Loramie 27-2
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter at @Lima_Howell
