FORT WALTON BEACH — Crestview High School’s girls basketball team can breathe a collective sigh of relief heading into the New Year.
The Bulldogs bounced back from a couple of disappointing games in the Southern Resorts Beach Blowout Basketball Tournament with an impressive 57-39 win over Germantown High School from Germantown, Tenn.
Crestview-Germantown girls basketball photos>>>
“I felt like we finally played our game and got over that hump,” Bulldog Coach Kathy Combest said. “Our shots fell; we hustled more and did a better job on defense.
“I think we finally played (up to their capabilities). We boxed out and got rebounds and took care of the ball. We did the things, as a coach, I look for.”
The Red Devils scored the first points of the game when Breanna Cowens hit a pair of free throws a little more than a minute into the first quarter.
Dionjenae Hendrix scored 12 seconds later for Crestview to tie the game at 2-2.
Throughout the first quarter Germantown would score a basket or two and Crestview answered. The biggest Red Devil lead of the quarter was four points at 10-6.
A 3-pointer by Crestview’s K.K. McTear with 1:05 left in the period put the Bulldogs within a point of Germantown.
Cowens hit a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left in the quarter to put Germantown back up by three. But by that time the writing was already on the wall that it was Crestview’s day.
LaKayla Robinson hit a 3-pointer for Crestview to tie the game at the end of the first quarter and the Bulldogs didn’t trail again.
McTear, who scored a game-high 17 points, and Robinson hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Crestview to open the second quarter as the Bulldogs moved up by six points and never looked back.
Tiara Payne scored six of her 10 points for the Bulldogs in the second quarter as Crestview stretched the lead to 13 points at the half.
Germantown was able to trim the Bulldog lead to seven points twice in the third quarter.
A Cowens’ basket with 7:43 left in the fourth quarter pulled the Red Devils to within eight points of the Bulldogs. But a Jensis Coleman 3-pointer followed by a 3-pointer from McTear pushed the Crestview lead back to 14 as the Bulldogs coasted home with the win.
The Bulldogs (8-6) can now turn their attention to the final month of the season and Combest thinks they will be better for having played in the tournament.
“If you look at our schedule there’s nobody that can’t play,” she said. “We know you have to play this type (top) of competition. That’s why we came here because we knew these were the best teams out of Tennessee and everywhere else.”
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 close tournament with win (PHOTOS, VIDEO)