Staff photo / Dan Hiner Crestview’s Kerrigan Miller (12) tries to drive past LaBrae’s Makayla Scruggs during the first quarter of Monday’s game.

LEAVITTSBURG — All good things must come to an end, and the Crestview girls basketball team learned that lesson on Monday night at LaBrae High School.

The Rebels had their 49-game Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier winning streak snapped, falling to LaBrae 64-52.

“I think we need to self-reflect a little bit,” Crestview head coach Aaron Blatch said. “We had an upbeat locker room … It starts with me, first and foremost. That’s the first message. I gotta do a better job of preparing our team to play.”

The defenses dominated the first quarter. Crestview’s press made life difficult for the Vikings, and LaBrae face-guarded and doubled Rebels’ star Addison Rhodes.

However, Rhodes knocked down a three just before the first-quarter buzzer to tie the game at 9.

Things started to get a little dicey for Crestview after Rhodes picked up two fouls in the second quarter. She accounted for 11 of the Rebel’s first 12 points.

Ella Kuszmaul knocked down a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left in the second as the Vikings (19-2, 13-1 MVAC Grey) ended the frame on a 12-0 run.

Crestview (19-2, 13-1) started getting some shots to fall in the third, but the Vikings made their way through the press to get some easy buckets on the other end. Despite the Rebels getting the offense going, the Vikings still led 47-34.

The Vikings had a 13-point lead when they began to slow things down with 2:30 to play, forcing the Rebels to foul to keep the game going.

“I told them, ‘We’ve been spoiled a little bit. Losing’s part of it,” Blatch said. “It’s not a fun part of it, but when you’re a competitor, you put everything you have into this, sometimes you’re gonna be disappointed. So right now, we’re disappointed.”

Rhodes led all scorers with 20 points. Ava Bucey added 15, and Karli Perry finished with eight.

Kuszmaul led the Vikings with 17 points. Riley Rowe chipped in 13, and Mia Sloan ended the night with 10.

The Rebels will close out the regular season with another challenge. They have Grand Valley (19-2) coming to town on Thursday.

“We didn’t take anything consciously for granted, but the last game (with LaBrae) was kinda the opposite outcome,” Blatch said. “We gotta use this as an opportunity to learn some things before the tournament. Obviously if we’d have won the game, we’d have a long way to go, we’ve known that.

“We’ve got plenty of flaws, and I thought they did a good job of exposing some things tonight, so give them credit. But we need two really good days of practice. This is a little bit of an eyeopener for us.”

HISTORY FOR LABRAE

With the win, LaBrae can call itself a conference champion, something it hasn’t been able to do since 1981.

After the game, the players and head coach Mandy Rowe took to a ladder and cut down a portion of the net to celebrate snapping the 45-year drought.

“We lost to (the Rebels) by 40 at their place in December, on Dec. 29,” Mandy Rowe said. “To come back and have the confidence that they can even be on the same court with Crestview … they’re a great team. They ran the conference for years. I’m just proud of my girls and their execution and their toughness.”