Hazleton, PA — From the Standard Speaker With all the underclassmen on the floor at one time, Monday's Crestwood-Hazleton Area girls' basketball showdown had the trappings of a junior varsity game. The intense, back-and-forth action over 36 minutes and young players displaying their array of talents and poise at crunch time told a different story. When all was said and done, the host Lady Cougars used an 11-4 run in overtime to fuel a 58-51 victory that gave them a leg up in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 standings. 'It wasn't always nice, but we made plays when we had to," said Hazleton Area head coach Joe Gavio, after his team won its ninth straight, fourth in the WVC. Sophomore Kayla Lagowy made some of the biggest plays for the Lady Cougars, calmly knocking down two free throws to start the scoring in overtime and then capping their next possession with a deep 3-pointer for a 52-47 lead. "This was our first really close game in the Wyoming Valley Conference ... and we were feeling it," Lagowy said. "We were all pretty excited going into it. We just had to go out there and play our game." Lagowy's third of three triples was Hazleton Area's only field goal in overtime, but she made three foul shots, as did freshman Sophia Benyo to keep the Comets from getting any closer than 54-51 in the extra session. "We had our chances," first-year Crestwood head coach Mary Mushock-Namey said. "We're usually able to score more easily, but I think we panicked a little too much and at the wrong time." After Benyo made the back end of a two-shot foul with 1:08 left, Cameron Vieney converted an offensive rebound off her own miss to bring the Comets within thre points 15 seconds later. Hazleton Area, however, got a foul shot apiece from Sophia Shults and Lagowy and two by Benyo to seal the win in its closest game since losing to Scranton way back on Dec. 5. "You have to be ferocious in there," Gavio said. "When you face players with the size that they (the Comets) do ... and they're as long and strong as they are, you've gotta box out and go for every rebound. When we didn't do that, they made a little bit of a run, but we hung in there and made enough plays when we had to (make) them." The Lady Cougars jumped out to a 7-0 lead within the game's first minute after Alexis Reimold's jumper, Lagowy 3-ball and Kaitlyn Bindas steal. But the Comets steadied themselves, got seven points from Kendall Petrosky and four from Jackie Gallagher and took a 13-11 lead on a Petrosky three-pointer at the two-minute mark. Before the first quarter was over, there were three lead changes and two ties. A similar pattern unfolded in the second period with two more lead changes and another two ties. Hazleton Area's biggest lead in the quarter was 24-20 after Mariah Marolo banked in a three-pointer, but a Charlie Hiller putback, Gallagher steal and layup and Jordan Andrews hoop in transition staked Crestwood to a 27-25 halftime edge. "In the beginning we were breaking their press quite a bit, but then we had a more turnovers in the second half," Mushock-Namey said. "We just didn't execute the game plan." Still, Kate Gallagher's bucket and another Hiller stickback kept Crestwood in front for most of the third quarter. That was until Lagowy delivered another well-timed triple and Olivia Williams cashed a steal into a go-ahead basket for the Lady Cougars. The game was tied twice more before the quarter ended, the final time after Hiller's two free throws made it 37 all. Hazleton Area seemed to regain the upper hand late in the final period following a Bindas 3-pointer and Sophia Shults's old-fashioned three-point play, the latter putting the Lady Copugars up 47-43 with 2:15 left in regulation. Back came the Comets as Keira Dougherty beat the press for a layup and Hiller swished two foul shots to tie it at 47. Both teams squandered opportunities to win in regulation, setting the stage for a tense overtime period. Lagowy finished as the Lady Cougars' top scorer with 12 points, including her three triples. Alexis Reimold added 11, Benyo 10, Bindas nine and Shults eight. Hiller and Kate Gallagher paced the Comets with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Petrosky tossed in nine and Jackie Gallagher had eight.