The Crestview girls basketball team captured its first district championship since 2007 with a 50-38 win over Chagrin Falls at Woodridge High School on Saturday night. Members of the team are (from left) Jordan DiMuzio, Jon Gallagher, Aaron Blatch, Katie MacKay, Brianna Baker, Karli Perry, Isabella Schaper, Makenna Ray, Ava Bucey, Addison Rhodes, Lilli Neese, Piper Harvey, Kerrigan Miller, Lainey Milhoan, Troy Duwe and Ethan Blatch. Crestview advances to the Division V regional semifinals against Doylestown Chippewa at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Elyria Catholic Coliseum.

PENINSULA — Led by All-Ohioan Addison Rhodes, the top-seeded Crestview girls basketball team stepped up in the decisive fourth quarter and nailed down the school’s first district title since 2007 with a 50-38 win over stubborn No. 7 seed Chagrin Falls Saturday night at Woodridge High School.

Leading by just two points (35-33) entering the fourth quarter, Crestview dominated at both ends of the floor, outscoring the Tigers 15-5 in the frame, including 11 points by Rhodes in the stanza to secure the Rebels elusive district title after sustaining some narrow heartbreaking district final losses the past three years.

To say the least, the Rebels were thrilled to be moving on to the regional.

“I’m really proud of how they responded (in the fourth quarter),”said Crestview coach Aaron Blatch. “How we controlled the ball and how we kind of reinforced the game plan on some of their players, our girls did a great job. This is our first (district crown) since 2007 and we have lost in this game the previous three, including back-to-back overtime district losses before tonight, so I’m just really proud of our girls for being able to pull that out.”

“It’s awesome,” said Rhodes. “I can’t explain it, especially losing three years in a row. It feels great to win it. We were confident, we knew what we had to do and we executed tonight.”

“We knew our defense was going to be the key tonight,” said Chagrin Falls coach Brittany Laseak. “Coming into tonight, we play very aggressive defense and our goal is always (holding a team) to 40 points, but when you come in against a high-octane offense that’s averaging 70 a game, you just have to kind of pick your battles.”

Crestview (23-2) advances to the Division V regional where they will play Doylestown Chippewa (17-8) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Elyria Catholic Coliseum. Chippewa won its district crown with a 52-41 win over Poland on Saturday.

The Chippewa Chipps are 17-8 and have given up 84 points in three tournament victories. They finished second in the Wayne County Athletic League, trailing league champion Norwayne, a state semifinalist last season. The winner advances to the regional final against the Norwayne-Wooster Triway winner at 7 p.m. Friday.

Rhodes, who has signed to play her collegiate basketball at Fairfield University in Connecticut, took game-scoring honors against Chagrin Falls with 25 points. She is the third leading scorer (all divisions) in Ohio at 31.6 points per game.

Complementing Rhodes offensively were teammates Kerrigan Miller with nine points on a trio of treys and Ava Bucey with nine points. Brianna Baker had six points.

Chagrin Falls was paced by Avery Russell with 11 points. Gabby Byrne had nine points and Olivia Kruse six.

Chagrin Falls stayed right with the Rebels through three quarters as the score was tied at 10-10 after one period, 20-20 at halftime and Crestview held a two-point (35-33) advantage after three.

“I thought we got a little antsy defending at times,” said Blatch. “We took a few bad chances and when you take chances and don’t get the ball, now it’s four-on-three and they had some kids step up and knock down some shots, but that (defending) is what we reinforced the whole fourth (quarter) to just be solid.”

As great teams and players do, Crestview and Rhodes owned the deciding fourth quarter. The Rebels scored the first six points of the quarter to go up by eight (41-33) following a layup by Rhodes with 4:39 left. Crestview then finished off its district title, outscoring the Tigers 9-5 in the remaining time to secure the crown in front of a large Crestview following which made the trip.

“We said coming in it wasn’t going to be perfect, we didn’t need to be perfect, but we needed to keep fighting and we needed to stay together,” said Blatch. “We wish we had a little more leeway than we did coming into the fourth, but if you told us at the beginning of the year if we win a quarter for a district title, I think everybody would take it.”

Rhodes talked of her big fourth quarter.

“Honestly, I think I played awful in the first half,” she said. “It was one of the worst halves I’ve played this year, but I just knew coming into the second half to just go out, play my game like I know how to play, and I think in the fourth quarter I wanted to win more than anyone else on the floor. I knew that in my head.”

“I’m really proud of the way we stuck with them (the Rebels) in the first half, and in the second half Rhodes takes over, she’s talented,” praised the Tigers’ head coach. “We did what we could.”

Blatch had Rhodes play some point guard against the Tigers and Blatch was pleased with how things turned out.

“She (Rhodes) hasn’t played a ton of point (guard) throughout the year and Karli Perry is a freshman and has done a phenomenal job, but this is a difficult spot with their ball pressure to ask a freshman to do it on her own,” said Blatchh, “so we wanted to get Addi in that spot a little bit more tonight, and a kid like that, she can do it all on the court, so we knew she was going to take care of the ball, we knew she was going to make good decisions with it and make free throws late that we needed, and she was awesome.”

Rhodes talked of what she told her teammates entering the fourth quarter?

“Just every loose ball had to be ours,” she said. “We felt like we had to stay calm and I kept telling them we’re going to finish this. I mean this is our fourth year here (in the district final) and we’ve lost three other times and we knew what we had to do to win.”

As Crestview turns its attention to Tuesday and the Rebels’ regional semifinal game, Blatch said he’s personally scouted Chippewa.

“I got to see Chippewa play earlier (Saturday) and we also went to see Chippewa a couple weeks ago and they’ve got a great team,” said Blatch. “It’s going to be a battle and it’s a great opportunity for us.”

“We’ve played them (the Chipps) in summer stuff, they’re a good team,” said Rhodes. “We’re going to celebrate tonight and tomorrow, get back to work and look to win a regional semifinal game on Tuesday.”

Youthful but talented Chagrin Falls bows out with a 15-10 record and returns its entire team next season.

“We have no seniors,” said the Chagrin Falls head coach. “Everybody’s back next year and we have five freshmen on this roster. The growth that we had this season was tremendous. I am really excited to be with this group next season. I think we have a great nucleus coming back.”

CF: 10-10-13- 5–38

CR: 10-10-15-15–50

CHAGRIN FALLS SCORING: Olivia Kruse 3-0-8, Abby Kay 1-0-2, Avery Russell 4-2-11, Gabby Bryne 4-1-9, Zoe Thompson 0-0-0, Sophie Igoe 2-0-6, Daisy Adelman 1-0-2. TEAM TOTALS: 15, 3-7: 38

CRESTVIEW SCORING: Karli Perry 1-0-3, Ava Bucey 2-3-7, Addison Rhodes 7-9-25, Kerrigan Miller 3-0-9, Brianna Baker 2-2-6, Katie MacKay 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 14, 13-18: 50

Three-point goals: Chagrin Falls 5 (Sophie Igor 2, Olivia Kruse 2, Avery Russell 1), Crestview 5 (Kerrigan Miller 3, Addison Rhodes 2).

Total fouls: Chagrin Falls 17, Crestview 12. Fouled out: none.