After a string of six wins, the Crestview Bulldogs's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They fell just short of Pace by a score of 35-33. While losing is never fun, Crestview can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 208th, while Pace is ranked 64th).
Several Bulldogs players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Natalie Toney, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten rebounds. That was a full 48.5% of Crestview's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Gracie Boydstun, who scored four points along with 18 rebounds.
Leading Pace to victory were Grace Manor and Aisley Shields. Manor scored ten points along with three steals, while Shields scored 12 points along with eight rebounds.
Crestview's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 8-9. As for Pace, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 12-3.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Crestview won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Niceville at 6:30 p.m. on January 12th. Niceville is looking to tack on another W to their three-game streak on the road. As for Pace, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Central at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Hopefully Central focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up nine on Friday.
