Crater's Sage Winslow heads down the court after stealing the ball against Ashland during the third quarter in Ashland Tuesday evening. 

Crater put a premium on sharing the basketball Tuesday night against Ashland, that just didn’t mean sharing it with the host Grizzlies.

Swarming and attacking at every opportunity early on, the Comets opened the Midwestern League girls basketball contest with 40 straight points before Ashland could register a point to win going away, 72-17.

“We try to play as fast as we can,” said Crater head coach Scott Dippel, “and we like that piece because we are so deep and we can apply a lot of pressure. What we hope to do is kind of wear people down a little bit. That happens in phases, but we have the ability to go on runs.”

Stirring the storm on Tuesday was Crater sophomore Sage Winslow, who relentlessly hounded her counterparts to put Ashland on its heels en route to 11 steals with 15 points and seven assists.

Winslow’s steals were one shy of her own school record of 12, set last season against Eagle Point.

“She does such a good job of tracking the ball and immediately getting it out if somebody is up ahead of her,” said Dippel of the 5-foot-8 guard. “We’re just getting so much better with that as a team.”

Winslow was far from alone in making a difference on both ends of the floor for Crater (14-6, 6-2 MWL), which saw Alexa Gugliotta register four steals and four rebounds and Isabel McCauley lead the team in scoring with 17 points.

Lydia Traore, Addison Dippel and Addison Vranes each added 10 points for the Comets, who kept Ashland from hardly registering a shot in the first quarter as they burst out to a 31-0 lead.

As a team, Crater finished with 23 assists — many coming in transition after steals or Ashland turnovers.

“That was one of our goals was team assists, and if we force a turnover getting out and running and then just rewarding people for running hard,” said Dippel.

It’s a style of play that has served the Comets very well over the years, and one that just couldn’t be answered by Ashland (3-15, 0-8).

Loane Adaine and Sayler McDonald each finished with five points for the Grizzlies and Mary Montgomery had four. Montgomery’s two free throws with just under three minutes to go in the first half were Ashland’s first points of the contest.

“The style of play that we have is predicated just on our speed and quickness,” said Dippel. “We like to pressure the ball and pressure the pass and we count deflections, and that mentality of counting deflections does get kids to make sure they’re using the correct hand when they’re denying and making sure that when a ball is passed if they can get to it and just touch it then that matters. That mentality contributes to how much havoc they can cause.”

Besides a versatile lineup — minus another key contributor in junior Abigail Winslow, who was off on a college visit — the Comets are also able to utilize the size of Traore (6-4) and Gugliotta (5-11) to anchor that wave of pressure.

“Lydia and Alexa Gugliotta are playing so well defensively in the middle,” said Dippel, “it allows for us defensively to expand and play out, and that makes for longer passes for the offense and gives us a better chance to do things because you can take risks.”

“If you get beat, then you’re going to have to shoot over Lydia,” he added. “Her emergence defensively, especially in the area of blocking shots, has really helped us because the girls trust her. They take risks because they know if they get beat that she can clean up their mistake.”

CRATER (72): Gugliotta 2, S. Winslow 15, Gish 3, Vranes 10, Snow 0, Dippel 10, Munroe 0, Simmons 2, McCauley 17, Traore 10, Idiart 2, Prince 2. Totals: 31 6-7 72.

ASHLAND (17): Montgomery 4, Sayre 0, Carter 3, Lundgren 0, Berry 0, Adaine 5, McDonald 5, Kiekhaefer 0. Totals: 5 5-8 17.

Crater 31 11 18 12—72

Ashland 0 7 3 7—17

3-point goals — Crater 5 (S. Winslow 1, Gish 1, Dippel 1, McCauley 2), Ashland 2 (Carter 1, McDonald 1).

Reach sports editor Kris Henry at khenry@rvtrib.com or via Twitter @Kris_Henry