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Ferris leads Rebels in low-scoring tilt
By Greg Gulas
LOWELLVILLE
The Lowellville High School girls basketball team took extra time in practice in order to prepare for Crestview’s defensive pressure.
It was the Rebels’ Emily Ferris, however, who took matters into her own hands on offense that proved to be the Rockets’ undoing in Monday’s game.
Ferris led all scorers with 13 points while the Rebels defense forced 21 Lowellville turnovers in a 37-29 victory.
“We were off a couple days because of the holiday and it showed tonight,” Ferris said of the low-scoring game. “We moved the ball well but our shooting was off.
“We knew coming in that we would have to apply pressure, and that is what helped set up our offense,” Ferris said. “That pressure also created some fast break opportunities as well. It’s just nice to get the win.”
Ten Lowellville turnovers and five by Crestview (6-5) in the opening quarter created an an 8-8 stalemate.
Crestview’s Alexis Gates, who had four points in the first quarter, added four in the next as the Rebels held Lowellville (1-8) to just two buckets for a 23-18 lead at intermission.
Crestview head coach Rick Gates said the game had a holiday-break type of flavor.
“This definitely was a Christmas break type of game,” Gates said. “Sometimes when kids get out of a routine, it’s tough to get back into the flow and both teams struggled to find the flow tonight offensively.
“When we had the ball, we’d run a good set, get a good look at the bucket and then fail to finish the play,” Gates said. “It was like that all night for us.
“The positive that you take away from a game like this is that both teams played really hard and didn’t quit. For us, we battled defensively the entire game, applied pressure and made it hard for them to score and get good shots.”
Neither team could mount much of an offensive attack in the third quarter as the Rebels scored just three field goals and the Rockets two.
Ahead 30-22 going to the final quarter, MacKenzie Daub’s bucket 28 seconds later gave the Rebels their largest lead.
A triple from Abby Bowman and back-to-back buckets by Lowellville’s Maria Mangine keyed a 7-2 run by the Rockets to cut the Crestview lead to 34-29.
That was as close as Lowellville would get as the Rebels scored the final three points at the foul line to break a two-game slide.
Failing to execute, especially early in the game, hurt the Rockets.
“We were ready for their pressure but panicked a bit at the outset,” Lowellville head coach Wendell Wagnon said. “We regained our composure and worked the ball for some nice shots, especially in the first half.”
The Rebels finished with 17 turnovers while the Rockets’ defense registered 10 steals and six blocks.
“We committed too many unforced errors and that also hurt,” Wagnon said. “We’re a young team and the experience will come, but that’s no excuse.
“The good part is that both teams played hard.”
Bowman had a team-high eight points for Lowellville, which remains winless in six tries at home this season.