Crabbs, Flyers surge past Eagles

NORWALK — The struggle was real. St. Paul senior Georgia Crabbs was the first to admit her difficulty finishing at the rim for the Flyers. But on Saturday, Crabbs was the closer against Monroeville. She scored inside the paint three times and was fouled and made both free throws on a fourth score near the rim in the fourth quarter of St. Paul's 46-32 win over the Eagles in the Firelands Conference opener on Saturday for both teams. Crabbs finished with 12 points and eight rebounds as the Flyers improved to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the FC with the win inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium. "I struggled with it the first three games, but today was my time to step up," Crabbs said. "I had a lot of rebound putbacks. I think the way I started finishing in the first half pushed me to be able to make them in the second half. "My teammates getting the ball to me with assists and finding me in the paint helped out a lot." The Eagles (1-3, 0-1) doubled up the Flyers in the first quarter with a 12-6 lead as Brooke Morman scored twice and Taylor Scheid and Lilly Stein each made a 3-pointer. But St. Paul quickly answered with an 8-0 run to start the second quarter, capped when Deanna Vazquez and Aubrie Bogard scored back-to-back to put the Flyers up 14-12 with 2:31 left in the first half. Annie Friend and Bogard then scored on consecutive possessions after Stieber stopped the scoring drought for the Eagles. Leading 18-17 after Stieber made a 3, Vazquez made one of her own in the final minute to put the Flyers up 21-17 at the break. Another 3 from Stieber cut the deficit to 21-20 less than 40 seconds into the third quarter, but then St. Paul gained separation. Up 23-22, Bogard scored down low, then Annie Friend sank a 3 from the left wing off a Monroeville turnover to make it 28-22 at the 4:37 mark of the third quarter. Bogard scored again, this time from the left block, and the Flyers led 30-22 with 3:18 left in the third. Ella Kalizewski made a jumper near the foul line, and Bogard capped her 14-point day with a basket at the 2:16 mark to extend the lead to 34-25. Crabbs scored her lone basket of the quarter with 6.6 seconds left to make it a 38-28 game entering the final eight minutes. "I really got on them in the first half because it felt like we were sleepwalking through a 7 a.m. game and not a 1 p.m. game," St. Paul head coach Steve Frazee said. "We had two possessions in the first half where Georgie assisted out of the paint, then scored herself. Get her the ball in the post, because it will open up so much more." Crabbs then scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, again from point-blank range. Monroeville got the next four points on two free throws from Stieber and a basket from Scheid to make it 40-32 with 5:33 left. However, the Eagles drew no closer. Crabbs scored the final six points of the game over a 1:57 span to extend the advantage to 46-32 with 2:33 remaining. "First of all, I want to credit Coach Frazee and his staff," Monroeville head coach Ryan Bohn said. "Their girls played a very good game, and their program is the strongest that it has been during my three years here. "I thought that our girls gave great effort, which is the number one thing that Coach (Lauren) McCurdy and I ask of them," he added. "We had a very good start for a third straight game, winning the first quarter. Now we need to find a way to avoid scoring droughts and sustain the way we are playing in the first quarter. It will happen in time." Stieber scored 10 points for the Eagles, Stein had seven, and Scheid added six. Monroeville is at Crestview on Thursday. "We have a young group, and they are learning and improving a little bit every day," Bohn said. Friend and Vazquez each added seven points for St. Paul, which is 2-2 in four games after going 3-20 last season. "The turnaround is starting," Crabbs said. "We work really well together as a team, and we have a good bond. We've had trouble getting it to the post, but Ella and Aubrie also finished at the rim and had good games. It was a mix of working inside and finishing our shots. "This can be a game changer. It shows us that we're ready to take a big step forward; now we just have to go out and do it." Frazee said Crabbs is a ball of energy that often leads the team. "Georgia works really hard in the offseason, and she has done some work on the side that is not required, but she wanted to get better, and she always asks questions to try and get better," he said. "She just wants to be a great teammate, which she is. She is always positive, and I'm just really happy for her today." St. Paul visits Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic on Tuesday, then visits South Central in FC play on Thursday. "I told the girls they can win any game; you just have to believe that," Frazee said. "They're not used to finishing and winning. Today we could have folded a couple of times early and even late, but they didn't do that. "It feels good, but we still have a lot of work and improvements to make." MONROEVILLE (1-3, 0-1) Payton Weiland 1-0—2; Taylor Scheid 2-1—6; Sophia Stieber 3-3—10; Lilly Stein 2-1—7; Haylee Morman 0-1—1; Kaylee Lauber 1-0—2; Brooke Morman 2-0—4. TOTALS 11-6—32. ST. PAUL (2-2, 1-0) Georgia Crabbs 5-2—12; Peyton Barman 1-0—2; Annie Friend 3-0—7; Aubrie Bogard 7-0—14; Ella Kalizewski 2-0—4; Deanna Vazquez 2-2—7. TOTALS Monroeville 12 5 11 4 — 32 St. Paul 6 15 17 8 — 46 3-poing FGs: (M) Stein 2, Scheid, Stieber; (SP) Friend, Vazquez