Tuslaw High School girls basketball's season of big wins ends in OHSAA district semifinals
CORTLAND — The most difficult district draw in the area lived up to its reputation on Wednesday. The unfortunate result was the end of the high school girls basketball season for Tuslaw.
The 13th-seeded Mustangs lost to No. 3 Crestview 56-44 in a Division III district semifinal at Cortland Lakeview High School, as they were trying to eliminate a top seven seed for the second straight game.
Undefeated Crestview (25-0) never trailed at the end of any quarter. The Rebels got double-doubles from 6-foot-1 junior Luvrain Gaskins and 5-11 sophomore Addison Rhodes. Gaskins had 20 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots while Rhodes had 20 points, 10 rebounds and a blocked shot.
"I feel really good about how we handled tonight," Crestview head coach Aaron Blatch said. "This was a tough, gritty win for us. Tuslaw had the two best post players we had faced all season. We knew that was going to be a challenge and the girls responded to it."
Rhodes managed that performance despite being ill coming into the game.
"We weren't even sure if she was going to be able to play tonight," Blatch said. "She has been sick the last two days. It was bad for her. She came out and gutted it out. I know she was dead tired by the end of the game but she showed a lot of character playing through that."
Three Tuslaw players scored in double figures. Breanna McCabe had 16 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. Destiny Dulkoski and Malia Mizeres added 10 points each. The Mustangs reached the district tournament by winning at No. 7 Columbia Stadium last weekend.
"I just went down the line and hugged every kid on the team after the game," Tuslaw head coach Kathryn Rowbotham said. "They all put a lot of time in and all of them are wonderful young ladies. We're very grateful for all the support we've gotten this season from the administration and community. This one game does not define our season. We had some big wins. We were co-PAC-7 Champions and won a sectional title."
Dulkoski also had seven rebounds and four blocked shots. That was despite being in foul trouble much of the game. Dulkoski was forced to sit the last three minutes of the second quarter, six minutes in the third quarter and fouled out halfway through the fourth quarter.
Mizeres also fouled out for Tuslaw. Midway through the fourth, Tuslaw had been called for 18 fouls while Crestview had been whistled for four fouls. The final tally was 19 fouls called on the Mustangs and nine on the Rebels. A discrepancy Rowbotham was not pleased with.
"All I'll say is I would just like us to have a fair opportunity," Rowbotham said. "I just want a fair game called. Both teams worked really hard to get to this point and at times I felt like it wasn't fair to either of us. It's frustrating. We didn't press and they pressed us the whole game yet we had that many more fouls called on us at one point? It didn't sit right with me."
Tuslaw wraps up the season with a final record of 19-6.
"I'm just proud of the kids and proud of everything they accomplished," Rowbotham said. "All of them have done a lot for our program."
Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Crestview beats Tuslaw in OHSAA girls basketball district semifinals
