CRESTLINE — The 2019-2020 girls basketball season officially began for the Galion Lady Tigers and the Crestline Lady Bulldogs on Friday, November 22.
Keeping with the tradition of the past few seasons, the two squads faced off in the first game of the season with Crestline looking to defeat Galion in their opener for the first time in four seasons. Last season, the squads split their season series with the Lady Tigers winning the opener.
It would prove to be a slow start to the game as after the first quarter of the season, Crestline held a 9-2 lead over their guests. Galion’s Teanna Greter scored the Lady Tigers’ lone bucket in the quarter while Crestline’s Daija Sewell put in four of their nine points.
In the second, the blue and orange would outscore the white and blue as Galion dropped in six points to just five from the ‘Dogs but Crestline would see themselves still in control at the half; 14-8.
Scoring would pick up a bit in the third frame as both squads reached double-digits in the quarter with the slim advantage going to the hosts. To send the game into the final quarter of regulation, the Lady Tigers still trailed the Lady Bulldogs by a tally of 29-20.
Crestline put the contest away in the fourth, outscoring their guests 11-7 to cruise to the victory; 40-27.
Lauryn Tadda led all scorers on the evening, tallying 17 points while playing to a double-double by grabbing 13 total rebounds. Tadda also finished with two assists and three steals. For Galion, Heaven Phelps had a team-high eight points.
The Lady Tigers scored a big chunk of their points on the night from the free-throw line where they finished at 12/22 (54.5%). Crestline went just 5/11 (45.4%) at the charity stripe in the win.
Greter finished with seven points for the Lady Tigers while Natalee Perkins contributed six. Morgan Kimble added five points, including Galion’s only three-point field goal and Kylie McKee wrapped the visitor’s scoring output with a point.
As a team, the Lady Tigers shot 6/32 from the interior and 1/11 from the perimeter while grabbing 33 rebounds (13 offensive, 20 defensive). Galion collected five blocks and eight steals on the night and committed 28 turnovers to just four assists.
For Crestline, they finished at 13/32 from inside the arc and 3/16 from three-point range. The ‘Dogs pulled in 32 rebounds (10 offensive, 22 defensive), had six assists, 11 steals, two blocks and committed 18 miscues with the ball.
Additional statistics for the Lady Bulldogs in the win were: Hannah Delong- 9 points, 1 assist, 4 steals; Kennedy Moore- 5 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals; Sewell- 4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals; Ivy Stewart- 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 2 assists; Jocelynn Morgan- 2 points; Liyah Harris- 1 rebound and Emma Kirby- 4 rebounds, 1 block.
In the junior varsity contest, the hosting ‘Dogs defeated the Tigers; 26-4.
Galion looks to bounce back with a home, non-conference game against the Mount Gilead Lady Indians on Monday, November 25. For Crestline, they will look to improve to 2-0 on Tuesday, November 26 when they host the visiting Ridgedale Lady Rockets in a non-league clash.
