BUCYRUS — A coaching adage says, “You can’t teach size.” You have it or you don’t, and Mohawk has it.
With 6-foot-3 Emily Klopp in the middle, flanked by 5-10 Mia Miller and 5-8 Joleigh Hamilton, the Lady Warriors are formidable.
Bucyrus was no match. The Lady Redmen stayed close for a half, but the Mohawk size wore on them as the Warriors pulled away to a 48-23 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
“We’ve got three girls down there (on the block) — Joleigh Hamilton and Mia Miller and Emily Klopp — they’re a real force down there,” Mohawk coach Bruce Hannam said. “They really get after it.”
The stat that jumped off the sheet was rebounding. The Warriors held a commanding 53-27 advantage on the glass, including 18 offensive boards. Klopp led the way with 16 caroms.
“They are going to definitely get a lot more shots,” Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said. “And they get a lot more shots in the paint, under the basket, and that also hurt.”
The Redmen kept it close early. Bucyrus trailed 7-4 after one and were still as within 17-14 with 1:55 left in the first half on a free throw by Adacyn Rister.
Mohawk (2-1, 1-0 N10) scored the last four points of the quarter to take a 21-14 to the halftime locker room.
“I felt we started putting it together halfway through the second quarter,” Hannam said. “It’s taken a while to find some chemistry, how to break the press. When things aren’t going, we get a couple of turnovers. We just can’t let one mistake turn into another and turn into another.”
Seybert thought the start of the third quarter was the real turning point. Mohawk’s Bailey Sheets scored 15 seconds in to push the lead to 23-14.
“Turnovers just hurt us,” Seybert said. “I thought we got deflated on the first bucket of the second half. The intensity and effort was right there. We were just a few shots away in the first half of maybe having the lead.”
The Warriors rolled on from there, using a 19-7 bulge in the third quarter to push the lead to 40-21. The defense then held the Redmen to two points in the fourth quarter to set the final score at 48-23.
Klopp led all scorers with 14 points to go with her 16 rebounds for Mohawk. Sheets added 10 and Hamilton grabbed 11 rebounds.
Emma Tyrrell topped Bucyrus (0-2, 0-1) with eight points and eight rebounds. Kendra Blizzard had five points.
“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Hannam said. “We were going to press them. We just wanted to keep them in front of us and try to make them make some bad decisions.”
The Redmen struggled shooting the ball, hitting just five of 34 attempts and were 12 of 28 from the line.
“We were getting shots, we were getting shots we wanted to take, we’re comfortable taking,” Seybert said. “That’s been our problem through the whole month, in scrimmages, in the first game, in this game. We can’t get it to go through the rim. That’ll come.”
Mohawk also won the junior varsity game, 32-17. Brooklen Helton had nine points for the Warriors. Marissa Middleton had a game-high 11 points for Bucyrus.
Box score
Mohawk 7 14 19 8 — 48
Bucyrus 4 10 7 2 — 23
Mohawk (2-1, 1-0 N10): Shots 20-51; 3-pt. shots 1-8 (Kennedy Cleveland); Free throws 7-20; Rebounds 53 (Emily Klopp 16); Turnovers 24. Scoring: Josie Granata 2 1 5, Kennedy Cleveland 4 0 9, Brooklen 0 2 2, Bailey Sheets 4 2 10, Emily Klopp 7 0 14, Kendal Bailey 1 1 3, Joleigh 2 1 5.
Bucyrus (0-2, 0-1 N10): Shots 5-34; 3-pt. shots 1-11 (Kendra Blizzard); Free throws 12-28; Rebounds 27; Turnovers 24. Scoring: Maddie Kimmel 1 2 4, Kendra Blizzard 1 2 5, Emma Tyrrell 3 2 8, Adacyn Rister 1 2 4, Karmyn Blizzard 0 2 2.
JV: Mohawk 32-17.