Staff photo / Preston Byers Crestview’s Addison Rhodes (3) attempts to finish a layup during the Rebels’ home win vs. LaBrae on Thursday in East Fairfield.

EAST FAIRFIELD — Crestview’s girls basketball team finished its Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) schedule undefeated for a second consecutive season Thursday with a 74-34 home win over conference runner-up LaBrae.

While the Rebels finished the night strong, the Vikings hung tight with Crestview for the entirety of the first half. LaBrae trailed by only a few baskets for most of the first 16 minutes, only for the Rebels to run away with their 14th and final MVAC win of the season.

“I thought LaBrae did a great job tonight,” Crestview coach Aaron Blatch said. “They were able to play us really tough there that first half. I was just really proud of how our girls kind of powered through a little bit of adversity and were able to pull this out.”

Despite facing a size disadvantage, the Vikings took an early lead Thursday, and even after surrendering it, remained within striking distance, thanks in large part due to an effective defensive strategy to keep the ball out of the paint.

With LaBrae’s attention centered on Addison Rhodes and Luvrain Gaskins, the other Rebels struggled to generate enough offense to pull away from the Vikings.

Additionally, Crestview’s defense was lacking, according to Blatch.

“I don’t think we defended very well early,” Blatch said. “And again, LaBrae did a good job, they pushed it really hard in transition, ran a little sideline break that gave us some trouble. I just thought there were times where we kind of broke away from our defensive concepts that we want to follow.”

The second half proved to be a completely different story.

Following the break, Rhodes immediately scored the Rebels’ first basket, which served as the breaking of the dam. Soon thereafter, Crestview flooded the net and iced out LaBrae at the same time.

After leading 32-25 at halftime, Crestview dominated the third quarter, outscoring LaBrae 21-7 and effectively putting the game out of reach even before the final period. But the Rebels did not let up there.

In the fourth, Crestview surrendered just one field goal and finished the game on a 24-2 run.

“They have a lot of weapons, so we had to choose which weapons we were going to try to control,” LaBrae coach Mandy Rowe said. “So I thought we did a really great job with Rhodes and Gaskins [in the first half], and that kept it competitive. We were able to score in transition. We ran some clean offense and got some nice offensive sets.

“And then in the second half, they got a couple breaks off of a couple early turnovers, and then they started to heat up from the 3-point line because we had to double down on Gaskins and it opened up shots up for their shooters, and they got hot.”

Rhodes and Gaskins scored 27 and 18, respectively. Angel Scruggs scored 19 points, a team-high for the Vikings.

With the win, Crestview completes its regular season with a 19-3 overall record and 14-0 conference mark. This is the third consecutive season in which the Rebels won the MVAC.

“I think it speaks of the consistency of this group,” Blatch said of finishing the MVAC slate undefeated. “It’s one of those difficult situations where you’re favored every night, and you expect to win every night, but at the same time, it’s hard to literally go out there every night and bring it.”

As for the Vikings, they now drop to 16-5 on the year and 11-3 in the MVAC. They have one more regular-season game remaining, a home tilt Saturday vs. Mogadore, before beginning the postseason.

Crestview, winner of its last 13, eyes a long playoff run after being bounced earlier than expected amid an undefeated campaign a year ago.

According to Blatch, having a few blemishes on the record this time around could prove helpful for the top-seeded Rebels, who begin the postseason with a Division V, Northeast 3 first-round meeting with Liberty next Saturday.

“We played a few excellent opponents that were able to get us earlier in the year, and we said at the time, we scheduled those games because we wanted some learning opportunities,” Blatch said. “At times we competed well, and at times we didn’t, honestly. But we hope that we’re going to be a little bit better from those experiences. And I guess in a way, not having kind of the undefeated thing hanging over you could be a benefit.”

Against Mogadore, LaBrae will try to avoid dropping its third game in a row before shifting its focus to Division VI, Northeast 1 sectional opponent Jeromesville Hillsdale, which the Vikings will host Wednesday.

“Mogadore, they’re a tough team,” Rowe said. “I’ve watched them a few times. They’re scrappy, they’re relentless, they’re very well-coached. We wanted to have a game like that to prepare us — like a tournament-style game. Win or lose, we’ve got to be ready to compete and get ready for the tournament. So it’s kind of like a tune-up game.”