CRESTVIEW — There’s plenty of work to do for Crestview High School’s girls basketball team during the upcoming Christmas break. The Bulldogs won’t be playing in holiday tournament so they’ll have plenty of court time with Coach Kathy Combest.
Combest summed up Crestview’s dilemma after Tuesday’s 56-44 loss to Pine Forest, but she was able to find a bit of a silver lining in the loss.
“We have size, but they don’t listen,” she said. “We should have been picking them up (on defense) when we needed to be picking them up.
“Normally that’s a team that will beat you by 40 points, but they beat us by 12. If we don’t give them but one shot (each Eagle possession) it’s probably a closer game.”
Pine Forest took a quick 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game and never trailed. Destiny Ervin scored four of her six points during the Eagle run. Reileigh Harvey, who was the game’s leading scorer with 15 points, scored the other Pine Forest basket.
Dionjenae Hendrix broke Crestview’s scoring drought putting the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with two minutes gone in the first. A Crestvuew 3-pointer by NyQuaja Collins made the score 8-5 with 5:12 left in the first quarter.
The Collins’ 3-pointer was the last Bulldog score of the first quarter as Pine Forest closed the period with a 5-0 run.
Crestview (4-6) started the second quarter quickly when Amaiah Banks scored back-to-back baskets to make the score 13-9. Seven quick Eagle points gave the Eagles a double digit lead.
Pine Forest led 25-19 at the half and the Eagles steadily built on the lead in the second half.
The Bulldogs tried to battle back in the second half behind the scoring of Tiara Payne. Payne scored 10 of her team-best 12 points in the second half.
Payne also had 16 rebounds and three assists for Crestview.
Pine Forest 13 12 17 14 – 56
Crestview 5 14 10 15 – 44
PINE FOREST (56)
Keke Brooks 2, Yeisha Taylor 11, Destiny Ervin 6, Reileigh Harvey 15, Kim Payne 11, Bre Snowden 11. Totals 16 6 6-12 56.
CRESTVIEW (44)
Amaih Banks 7, Aliyah Brown 4, Tiara Payne 12, NyQuaja Collins 11, Dionjenae Hendrix 8, Calera Rutland 1, Netaya Winston 2. Totals 15 3 5-14 44.
Crestview-Pine Forest girls basketball box
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Pine Forest jumps on Crestview (PHOTOS)