he Crestwood Red Devils girls’ basketball team finally snapped a cycle of losing against their Portage County rivals. Crestwood overcame the Garfield G-Men in overtime, winning 47-44 in its season opener last Wednesday evening in Garrettsville.
“I know for the girls that it is huge,” said Red Devils’ Coach T.J. Henderson. “This rivalry means a lot. It goes back to when they were little. We had to sit two starters. There was a lot of emotion they were missing because it was the Garfield game, but the girls stepped up.
The G-Men have dominated Crestwood (1-0, 0-0), winning the last eight games, including the final seven games when the schools belonged to the Portage Trail Conference County Division and continued their winning streak after joining the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier in the 2020-21 season.
After not having won a contest against Garfield (0-1, 0-0) since the 2012-13 season, the Red Devils finally earned some bragging rights against their neighborhood foe.
“I think it is really cool,” said Crestwood sophomore guard Becca Brady. “Garfield is a great team, and all of their players are really good and they have really good sportsmanship. It was a fun game.”
In the fourth quarter, the Red Devils used a 6-0 run to take a 37-31 lead in the final minutes sparked by a pair of 3-pointers by the 5-foot-6 Brady and appeared to be on the verge of clinching victory.
Garfield sophomore guard/forward Mandy Cardinal willed the G-Men back into the game, single-handily igniting her team by scoring eight consecutive points thanks to some heads-up defensive plays and by crashing the offensive boards, pushing Garfield ahead 39-37.
Crestwood’s defense had done a good job of stifling the G-Men’s only returning starter, holding her to 8 points through the first three quarters but the 6-foot sophomore caught fire at the most important time.
“She is one of the best basketball players in the area,” said the Red Devils’ second-year coach. “We talked a lot about not letting her do what she did but she did it, so she deserves the respect she deserves because she is that good.”
Freshman guard Kolby Fresch converted a free throw, giving the G-Men a three-point advantage but the Red Devils answered by making three free throws, knotting the score at 40-40, sending the game into overtime.
The Red Devils stayed composed in overtime, going ahead 43-40 on a driving lay-up by junior guard Abby Guyette and a free throw by Brady, but Cardinal responded with a lay-up in transition off a steal, trimming Crestwood’s advantage to 43-42.
Garfield could not make another basket, shooting one-of-six in overtime while the Red Devils pushed their lead to 47-42, sparked by a 4-0 run by freshman guard Madie Gracy Gonczy, who made a pair of free throws and hit a jump shot off an assist from Guyette, propelling the Red Devils to victory.
“We decided to push the ball back,” Brady. “We did not want to wear ourselves out. We did not press up or anything, but I think we played well and rotated.”
Despite falling behind 14-4 in the first quarter and being plagued by turnovers by committing seven, the Red Devils kept chipping away.
Cardinal and senior guard Zoey May sparked the G-Men’s offense by each knocking down a 3-pointer, but Crestwood’s defense focused on shutting down Cardinal.
“Mandy is so good,” Henderson said. “She has a bright future as a basketball player and is so tough to stop and that was key, not giving her the ability to get those easy looks like she got when she made that run.”
Crestwood still struggled with ball control in the second and third quarters, but the Red Devils’ defense forced 21 turnovers in the two periods with the 5-foot-5 Guyette recording five steals in the third quarter as Crestwood mounted a comeback.
“As a junior she just took over,” Henderson said. “She ran that unit and took over in the back of the zone and made a lot of really good reads and was able to step in and steal a lot of those passes which was fun to watch.”
After only recording four victories last season, Crestwood’s depth was tested with two of its only three returning varsity starters being out due to injury, with the 5-foot-5 sophomore Guyette being the only one available and relied on several players from the junior varsity squad to face off against the G-Men.
“The junior varsity stepped up and I think it is going be big for them moving forward,” Henderson added. “We are starting to get to a point where we will have years that will be a lot of fun because every year new people are stepping up and taking that new responsibility and leadership.”
After a road game against Portage County rival Rootstown on Tuesday night, the Red Devils will host Cloverleaf on Thursday night at 6:45p.m. in Mantua while Garfield will hit the road and face Hubbard on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Mahoning County.
