By Cort Reynolds
CONVOY - The visiting Bluffton girls basketball team was stymied 48-19 by Crestview in a Northwest Conference makeup contest Tuesday night.
The Lady Knights shut Bluffton out 22-0 in the decisive second period to build an insurmountable 34-6 halftime cushion. They led the Pirate girls 12-6 after the first quarter.
Bluffton bounced back to win the third quarter 11-10, but could muster only two fourth-period points.
Bluffton's record dropped to 6-6 overall and 1-2 in the NWC with the defeat. Crestview improved to 8-1 (2-1 NWC) after the lopsided victory.
The 19 points is the lowest single-game output this season by the Lady Pirates.
Knights Olivia Cunningham tallied 10 points in the second stanza blowout. She led all players with 24 points.
Bluffton's Sami Scoles netted all seven of her points in the third period. Laykin Garmatter added four markers.
Knight Bailey Gregory scored all nine of her points in the second quarter.
The Pirate girls were limited to seven baskets. They sank six two-pointers and made one triple. Bluffton converted four of six free throw attempts (67 percent).
Crestview connected on 18 field goals, hitting 14 two-pointers and four bombs from three-point territory. The Knight girls canned eight of 10 foul shots (80 percent).
Crestview 48 (8-1, 2-1 NWC)
Greulach 0, Putnam 2 0-0 4, B. Gregory 4 0-0 9, Etzler 1 1-2 3, C. Gregory 2 0-0 4, McCoy 1 0-0 2, M. Etzler 0 2-2 2, Cunningham 8 5-6 24.
Totals: 14-4/8-10/48. 3-pointers: Cunningham 3, B. Gregory 1.
Bluffton 19 (6-6, 1-2 NWC)
Bischoff 0 0-1 1, Garmatter 1 2-2 4, Busch 0 1-2 1, Eachus 1 0-0 2, Stackhouse 1 0-0 2, Scoles 3 0-0 7, Monday 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 6-1/4-6/19. 3-pointers: Scoles 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Cvw 12 22 10 4 48
Blf 6 0 11 2 19
Bluffton (4-2 home) returns home to host conference leader Paulding (9-3, 3-0 NWC) in a matchup Thursday, January 7.
On Saturday afternoon, Bluffton finishes a tough run of four games in eight days by entertaining non-league rival Van Buren (5-3). VB defeated Allen East 57-53 Monday.
