Kray leads Edgewood past Crestwood for D-IV sectional title

ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — The girls flag football season does not start for another few months, but Edgewood's Carly Kray and Annie Marie Johnston may have felt like Thursday night’s sectional title game with Crestwood was a warmup for them.

Kray scored 34 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists, while Johnston had a team-high six assists and four steals to help Edgewood outlast the Red Devils for a 57-47 Division IV girls basketball sectional championship win Thursday at EHS.

The Warriors, 15-7 and the 13th seed, advance to Tuesday’s district tournament, and will play at No. 11 Lutheran West in a district semifinal contest.

Lutheran West defeated East Cleveland Shaw 67-13 for a sectional title.

Getting to cut down the nets after the game meant dealing with a Crestwood team that constantly trapped, double-teamed, and brought a level of physicality not often seen in girls' basketball.

Johnston, though, said the team needed to be prepared for anything to keep the season going.

“It’s win or go home,” she said. “We knew we had to leave it all out there, we had to be aggressive back to them and take what we can get.”

Kray said, “We saw film on them, and we knew their game. We knew we were going to get pressured, and we handled it well.”

Actually, it was more like they handled it well enough to win.

The Warriors turned the ball over 25 times in the game, compared to Crestwood's 16.

But their defense and rebounding effort were up to the task.

The rebounding battle was even at 27 apiece, and the Warriors limited Crestwood to just 28% shooting from the field.

“Pressure, pressure, pressure, we haven’t played for eight days, and that’s all we talked about," Warriors coach Randy Vencill said, "We may not have handled it great, but we handled it well enough.”

Edgewood jumped out early to an 8-2 lead, en route to a 16-8 advantage after the first quarter.

But Crestwood’s physicality started to impose its will, and the Red Devils started to figure out things offensively.

Kray, however, went on a scoring rampage with four straight field goals to push the lead to 25-12 midway through the second quarter.

Crestwood answered back, toughm and pulled to within 25-19.

Edgewood, however, led 29-27 at halftime.

Kray ended up with 19 points in the first half, including 10 of Edgewood’s 13 in the second quarter.

“I didn’t have to take over the game, but I knew my shot was falling, so I just let it go, and I knew my teammates had my back,” Kray said of her second-quarter output.

In the second half, Crestwood rallied to get within 31-27, but Kray once again had the answer.

She hit two free throws, then cashed out a 3-point shot from the left wing on a cross-court pass from Johnston to give the Warriors a 36-27 advantage with 4:35 remaining in the third quarter.

Kray went 3 of 7 at the free-throw line in the first half, but converted 6 of 6in the second half to go with three 3-pointers.

“I was in my head a little bit with my free throws in the first half,” she said. “I knew if I just brushed it off, I’d get back to it, and I was able to do that.”

Kray may have led the way in scoring, but Johnston handled the ball against Crestwood’s intense defense, and found the right players for key baskets at key times.

“I think it slowed down for her,” Vencill said of Johnston’s poise in the second half. “The game settled a little bit, and when that happened, she made some good decisions and really took over for us in the second half.”

Crestwood made one more run, cutting the gap to 45-39 with just inside four minutes to play in the fourth.

But another 3-pointer by Kray, and layup from Haylee Rhodes off a nifty pass from Whitney Reed, pushed the lead back out to 50-39.

Rhodes buried a 3-pointer, and Johnton came up with a steal and a drive for a layup to finally put the Red Devils away for good.

The Red Devils finished the season at 11-12. In their final game, Maddie Grace Gonzcy scored 14 points.

After the game, Vencill sat back and di something all basketball coaches enjoy: watch his team cut down the nets to celebrate their sectional crown.

“Anytime you can cut down a net, it’s good,” he said. “We’re really happy about it.”