Basketball Game Preview: Liberty-Benton Eagles vs. Crestview Knights

The Liberty-Benton Eagles will square off against the Crestview Knights at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Liberty-Benton didn't have quite enough to beat Bryan and fell 46-44. The Eagles have struggled against the Golden Bears recently, as the game was their third consecutive lost matchup.

Meanwhile, Crestview came tearing into Tuesday's match with nine straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 15.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They strolled past the Indians with points to spare, taking the game 67-52. Given the Knights' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 58th, while the Indians are ranked 418th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Liberty-Benton better keep an eye on Ellie Kline. She was instrumental in Crestview's win, going 7 for 8 en route to 25 points and six assists. That makes it six consecutive games in which Kline has scored at least a third of Crestview's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Josie Kulwicki, who went 5 of 7 on her way to 12 points and four steals.

Crestview was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Shawnee only racked up nine assists.

Crestview has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 54.5 points per game. As for Liberty-Benton, their loss dropped their record down to 11-8.

Liberty-Benton came up short against Crestview in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, falling 49-39. Can Liberty-Benton avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.