Williamsport made a valiant effort, aiming to grab their first win and to hand out Crestwood’s first loss, but came up short in both departments. On Thursday in the Magic Dome, Williamsport struggled to keep up with Crestwood and lost, 76-31, moving to 0-3.

Senior Jaelynn Helmrich hustled in the first quarter, breaking through Crestwood’s strong defense and scoring, though not enough to close the gap Crestwood established early on. 

“Jaelynn is our only returning senior and has stepped up to be a kind of mother hen for the team,” first-year Williamsport coach Lamar Ballard said, “and it’s tough. She has done a remarkable job at composing herself and being a positive leader.”

In the second half, the deficit had grown to 50 (72-22). As Crestwood emptied their bench, Williamsport responded, allowing Brynlee Engel and Clara Fabian to shine and close the gap. Williamsport couldn’t claw back from a lopsided second quarter, however, as Crestwood led 55-17 by halftime.

“This is my first year, so my class is a really talented freshmen class. Brynlee and Clara are two kids that, if they keep continuing to put the work in, can really help us down the road,” Ballard said.

Throughout the whole game, Laylah Martin provided support with strong drive and even stronger control of the ball, helping overcome Williamsport’s weakness of possession. 

Williamsport was led by Helmrich and Martin, who both scored six points, while Cerami added five. The Millionaires scored 12 points in the first quarter, but were held to single digits the rest of the game, scoring five in the second and third, and nine in the fourth.

Crestwood held a 24-12 lead after the first and put the game out of reach with a big 31-point second quarter.

“We start a freshman, two sophomores, a senior, and a junior who never played any varsity minutes, so we’re learning as we go,” Ballard said. “We can compete, but today we couldn’t sustain that play and turn it into playing winning basketball. We’ll get there.”

For coach Ballard, this game and the preceding season have been valuable for a budding team competing with talented teams on the rest of the schedule. 

“I thought that they kept a consistent effort, and that’s one of the things that we’re trying to preach to the girls, to just continue to play hard and let the chips fall where they fall,” Ballard said. “We can control just attitude and effort, you know. Our focus tonight was on us, because it’s always a teaching thing. I kept barking out directions the whole thing; you can’t quit on your team because you don’t want them to quit. I’ve asked a lot of them, and it’s a slow teaching process.”

Crestwood’s victory — their third of the season — serves as a lesson for the Millionaires as they prepare for Saturday’s game at Selinsgrove.

“It’s the battle of the winless teams, and I think we have a shot,” Ballard noted.

Ballard reflected after the game on the season so far and how to channel it into a victory for Saturday.

“In our Holy Reedemer game (on Tuesday, we won the first quarter, our first winning quarter all season, and the feeling I got from watching them come off like ‘we can do this’ was amazing, but I knew ‘yeah, we can, but you’ve got to do it for four,'” Ballard said.

“I told them at half-time,” coach Ballard continued, “‘the hardest thing about this is that you worked your tails off. I’m proud that you worked your tails off, and sometimes you can work as hard as you want and not get the results that you want. It’s not fair, but you don’t have any other choice; keep working hard.'”

Crestwood 76, Williamsport 31

CRESTWOOD (76)

(Scoring not available)

WILLIAMSPORT (31)

Mikayla Cerami 2 1-2 5, K. Solomon 1 0-0 2, K. Cannade 0 0-0 0, Z. Minor 1 0-0 2, B. Engel 1 0-0 3, Jaelynn Helmrich 3 0-0 6, L. Martin 3 0-2 6, C. Fabian 1 0-0 3, P. Pennycoff 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 1-4 31.

Crestwood 24 31 17 4-76

Williamsport 12 5 5 9-31

3-point goals: Williamsport 2 (Fabian 1, Engel 1).