Staff photo / Dan Hiner The LaBrae girls basketball team celebrates after beating Crestview on Monday night at LaBrae High School.

LEAVITTSBURG — On Feb. 9, 1981, the most popular song was “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang, “Fort Apache, The Bronx” was the top movie at the box office and Ronald Reagan was only a couple weeks into his first term as the President of the United States.

That was also the last time the LaBrae girls basketball team could call itself a conference champion. Or at least that was until Monday night.

The Vikings downed Crestview 64-52 at LaBrae High School to give the Rebels their first conference loss of the season and take the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier crown.

“A big, big game. A lot of big moments for us,” LaBrae head coach Mandy Rowe said. “We had a gameplan, our girls stuck to the gameplan and executed it very well.”

The way MVAC Grey Tier play shaked out, the thought of the LaBrae and Crestview girls battling for the title was prevalent for a while. The two teams had one combined conference loss, when the Rebels beat the Vikings in East Fairfield on Dec. 29.

The Rebels entered Monday the winners of 49 straight league games and three straight MVAC Grey championships.

“We stayed confident in ourselves,” LaBrae senior Ella Kuszmaul said. “We didn’t want to be nervous or scared, because we didn’t have anything to lose. We just had to put our all into it, and I think we really did. I couldn’t be more proud.”

The defenses dominated the first quarter. Crestview’s press made life difficult for the Vikings, and Labrae face-guarded and doubled Rebels’ star Addison Rhodes.

However, Rhodes knocked down a three just before the first-quarter buzzer to tie the game at 9.

Both teams traded a pair of 3-pointers to open the second. And things started to get a little dicey for Crestview (19-2, 13-1) after Rhodes picked up two fouls in the second quarter.

Kuszmaul knocked down a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left in the second as the Vikings (19-2, 13-1 MVAC Grey) ended the frame on a 12-0 run. And going into halftime, LaBrae led 27-15.

“We went into the locker room, the girls were super pumped and excited,” Rowe said. “I told them, ‘That halftime score does not matter. It doesn’t count, it’s the final buzzer. Don’t get too high. You can’t come down off of that. We still have a job to do.'”

And as expected, the Rebels came out of the break with more success.

Crestview started getting some shots to fall in the third, but the Vikings made their way through the press to get some easy buckets on the other end. Despite the Rebels getting the offense going, the Vikings still led 47-34.

The Vikings had a 13-point lead when they began to slow things down with 2:30 to play, forcing the Rebels to foul to keep the game going. But the deficit was too much for the Rebels to overcome.

As the clock hit zero, Mandy Rowe threw the ball in the air and the Vikings stormed the court.

Players and coaches remained on the court after the game. A ladder was placed under one of the hoops, and the Vikings cut off a portion of the net to celebrate snapping the 45-year drought.

“This means everything to not just me, but to my whole team,” Kuszmaul said. “We’ve worked so hard for this, not just this year, but all the previous years we’ve been together. This is just amazing for us.”

Rhodes led all scorers with 20 points. Ava Bucey added 15, and Karli Perry finished with eight.

Kuszmaul led the Vikings with 17 points. Riley Rowe chipped in 13, and Mia Sloan ended the night with 10.

It really has been a four-year journey for the LaBrae seniors.

As freshmen, they went 5-18, but then the progress began. As sophomores, the Vikings finished 17-6, and they went 19-7 last season. Now the Vikings have one more game, a meeting with Niles on Thursday, with a shot at a 20-win season on the line.

And they get to say that they were a part of the 2025-26 conference championship squad.

“We’ve been building and building to this moment, so for it to finally be here, it’s emotional and just amazing,” Kuszmaul said.