BUCYRUS — In basketball, the offense may not always be there, but the defense is portable.

Upper Sandusky helped prove that theory Friday night. The Lady Rams started slowly on offense, but their defense was relentless, allowing them to cruise to a 57-30 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory over Bucyrus at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.

“I’m really, really proud of how we executed what we wanted to do, scouting report-wise, especially early on there, big-time getting up 15-5 after the first quarter,” Upper Sandusky coach Jerry Vent said.

The Rams’ suffocating perimeter defense did not allow the Redmen to get good looks from outside and limited dribble penetration.

“We had a high percentage of shots taken but a low percentage made,” Bucyrus coach Taylor Tackett said. “But I give credit to Upper’s defense. They play really tough on-ball, a kind of annoying defense. I told the girls to take that as a lesson. Turn around and you play that type of defense because you know how it feels.”

The Lady Redmen were indeed volume shooters, but not necessarily volume makers. Bucyrus (1-17, 1-13 N10) connected on two of 13 attempts in the first quarter and were just nine of 49 for the game. The Redmen had the same number of attempts as the Rams did on the night.

Upper Sandusky (5-15, 4-10) built a 10-point lead after one and expanded it to 26-11 by halftime. Reagan Ward led the way with six points as seven different Rams scored.

Both coaches pointed to Upper Sandusky’s scoring in the post as the main offensive difference.

“Reagan (Ward) got some good looks in there and Jenna (Kurtz) posted well,” Vent said. “It’s nice when you can get some finishes like that inside. It makes the game a little bit easier.”

“We have a couple of posts, we just need them to play bigger than they are,” Tackett said. “We’re not big down low, but I do believe we can play bigger than we actually are.”

Offensively, the posts did play big, but just couldn’t finish. The Redmen outrebounded the larger Rams, 45-33, and 25 were offensive boards.

“We were attacking the glass, grabbing the boards,” Tackett said. “But it either resulted in a turnover or we just weren’t getting the fouls (called) out of it or just not making those put-backs either.”

The Rams stretched the lead to 44-18 after three, and then substituted liberally in the fourth quarter come away with the win.

Freshman Velourea Stowers came off the bench to lead Upper Sandusky in scoring with 11 points while Kurtz finished with nine. Ten different Rams scored in all. Kaidance Iles grabbed eight rebounds.

“Velourea was the leading scorer for us tonight and she even got in there early on in the game,” Vent said. “I just wanted to see how she would react with some of the main rotation players and she did a real good job.”

Caleigh Rister led the Redmen with 15 points and Karmyn Blizzard added seven. Taylor Myers hauled down 12 rebounds — nine of them offensive.

“We just did not match their energy tonight,” Tackett said. “The girls know that. I don’t know if they’re sick, they’re sluggish. We just did not match their energy, their intensity tonight.”

“I have lot of faith in our guards to play defense,” Vent said. “When teams are guard-oriented, that’s kind of our strength to be able to guard on the outside, so it was a good job by us tonight.”

After winning their first game of the year against Mohawk last Friday and playing a solid first half against Colonel Crawford on Tuesday, the Redmen are looking to put this loss behind them when they face Galion on Wednesday.

“I told the girls we’re winning, it’s not an option,” Tackett said of the county rivalry. “We have to come ready to play. It’s senior night, home court, we’ve got our little fifth and sixth grade team coming to play at halftime. So, we’ve got to make it a good time for our community and fans.”

Box score

Upper Sandusky   15    11   18    13 — 57

Bucyrus                      5     6     7     12 — 30

Upper Sandusky (5-15, 4-10 N10): Shots 20-49; 3-pt. shots 3-15 (Jenna Kurtz, Kaidance Iles, Grace Vent); Free throws14-18; Rebounds 24 (Kaidance Iles 8); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Lia Barth 1 0 2, Julia Gottfried 1 2 4, Reagan Ward 4 0 8, Jenna Kurtz 4 0 9, Eve Smith 1 6 8, Grace Vent 3 0 7, Kaidance Iles 1 0 3, Madison Byrum 1 2 4, Kamree Frey 0 1 1, Velourea Stowers 4 3 11.

Bucyrus (1-17, 1-13 N10): Shots 9-49; 3-pt. shots 1-10 (Karmyn Blizzard); Free throws 11-24; Rebounds 45 (Taylor Myers 12); Turnovers 23. Scoring: Skylene Alvarez 1 0 2, Caleigh Rister 4 7 15, Taisha Spears 1 0 2, Karmyn Blizzard 2 2 7, Maddie Kimmel 0 2 2, Sierra Frost 1 0 2, Taylor Myers 0 0 0.