Crestview's runs stop South Range

The Rebels had one in each of the first two quarters on the way to a 67-52 victory.
By John Butera
Vindicator Correspondent
NORTH LIMA -- Two high-scoring runs, one in each of the first two quarters, and a balanced attack proved to be the difference Thursday night as Crestview topped South Range 67-52 in a non-league girls basketball game.
"We've been working on some things," said Crestview coach Tanja Simione of Crestview. "And tonight we were able to get the job done.
"Coming into tonight our team goal was to see improvement and we did that. Plus our biggest challenge was communication and I think we met that goal too."
In command at halftime
The Rebels (8-1) got double-figure scoring from three players and fashioned runs of 15-2 and 19-3 to take a 40-20 halftime lead.
Chelsea Bowker led the way with 20 points while Brianne Phillis added 18 and Elyse Mongillo 14. Each of those three had five steals while Bowker pulled down 14 rebounds and Mongillo and Phillis had 10 and eight assists respectively.
"I think the big lead helped us to work on our offense in a game situation," said Phillis. "And as far as the game goes, it was our last non-league game so now we can focus on the Tri-County [League]."
Phillis was a lot more relaxed after the game than before.
"I told my coach I was really nervous coming into the game," she said. "I didn't eat anything all day."
Bowker leads first run
Down 5-4 early, Bowker fueled the first run while Mongillo capped it with back-to-back layups as the Rebels took a 17-7 lead with 55 seconds left in the first quarter. South Range went just 4 for 18 and had 10 turnovers in the first eight minutes.
South Range fell behind 21-12 before Cindy Schuler, who led her team with 20 points, hit back-to-back field goals and added a free throw to pull the Raiders within four, 21-17, with 4:35 left.
But the Rebels answered as Mongillo again scored back-to-back field goals and Phillis hit two 3-pointers to give Crestview a commanding 33-17 lead with two minutes left in the quarter.
But Bowker wasn't done, scoring four more points to go along with three points from Tess Reash in the final minutes.
Raiders get within 12
South Range (5-3) trailed by as many as 22 in the second half, but on occasion showed some flash, cutting the gap to as low as 12.
"Crestview is a good basketball team. And they are patient," said Raiders assistant Mike Owen, who was filling in for his nephew, David, due to illness. "Plus we had the shots and they weren't falling and even when we weren't being pressured we were turning the ball over.
"Still we played them hard but it was just too big of a margin to overcome."