FORT WALTON BEACH — Nobody can blame Crestview High School girls basketball Coach Kathy Combest if she is singing the holiday Blues.
It has been rough going for the Bulldogs Fort Walton Beach High School’s Southern Resort Beach Blowout Basketball Tournament.
Crestview opened the tournament with a 74-44 loss to Kentucky powerhouse, the Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado. Things didn’t get any better Monday when the Jackson County, Tenn., Blue Devils pounded Crestview 74-43.
Crestview-Jackson County Tenn., girls basketball photos>>>
Crestview (8-7) closes out the tournament at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday against Germantown, Tenn.
The Blue Devils were reminiscent of the teams Combest coached at Baker School. Jackson County wasn’t extremely big or athletic. But what the Blue Devils lacked in size in speed they more than made up for with smarts, hustle and deadly shooting.
The fact that the Bulldogs seemed to be suffering from something of a Christmas hangover didn’t help any either.
“We didn’t hustle and didn’t play hard,” Combest said. “If everybody played defense at the same time, instead of two or three it would be better.
“When you get beat you have help side (defense) that you have to locate. But we just have to work harder and get them more focused on what we are doing on the floor.”
Jackson County scored 27 seconds into the game on a pair of Lindsey Phillips’ free throws. Netayah Winston score for the Bulldogs with 7:19 left in the first quarter.
The rest of the game belonged to the Blue Devils. Jackson County outscored Crestview 16-5 to close out the first quarter to lead 18-7 after one.
The Bulldogs wouldn’t get closer than eight points the rest of the way.
A 3-point play by Phillips early in the second quarter pushed the Jackson County lead to 21-7 before Jensis Coleman hit back-to-back 3-point baskets for Crestview.
Kassidy Allen, who scored a game-high 27 points scored a basket to push Jackson County’s lead back to double digits and the route was on.
A pair of free throws by Allen with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter put the Blue Devils up by 36 points to start the running clock.
Allen led a trio of Blue Devils in double figures. Phillips added 21 points and Cameron Sherrell scored 11 points.
Coleman scored 20 points to lead Crestview in scoring. Aliyaha Brown added eight points and Dionjenae Hendrix scored seven points for the Bulldogs.
Email News Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs struggle in Beach Blowout (PHOTOS, VIDEO)