UPPER SANDUSKY — The Upper Sandusky Lady Rams had been as cold as the January weather over the past two weeks. They had lost three straight games, including a 21-point trouncing by county rival Mohawk.

The Rams need a spark and they got it Friday against Bucyrus. Upper Sandusky overcame 31 turnovers by forcing 32 by the Lady Redmen and shot 50 per cent from the field to beat Bucyrus, 55-38, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.

“We just haven’t been playing very well these last few weeks,” Upper Sandusky coach Jerry Vent said. “We just aren’t in a real good rhythm at either end of the floor. Coming off three losses, we did what we needed to do to get out of there and get a win.”

But Bucyrus (2-13, 0-11 N10) didn’t make it easy, despite its record. The Redmen trailed 13-6 after one quarter, largely due to their continuing struggle to finish, as they hit just three of 12 shots in the frame.

They showed their capability in the second quarter, when they hit five of 10 shots and took a 17-16 on a basket by Emma Tyrrell with 2:32 left in the first half. It was a nifty 10-3 run.

“There’s spurts,” Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said. “We just can’t put it all the way through for four quarters. We can do it for the first and maybe part of the second and a little bit of the third. We just can’t do it all four quarters.”

What Upper Sandusky (10-7, 6-5) did to fend off the pesky Redmen was finish quarters strong. After losing the lead, the Rams closed out the half with a 12-0 run to take a 28-17 advantage to the locker room.

“Our pressure was able to get us some easy baskets there at the end of the first half to extend (the lead) out,” Vent said. “We played a little bit better in the second half, but 31 turnovers are just unbelievable.”

The Redmen cut their deficit to 28-21 by scoring the first four points of the second half. But that was as close as they could get. The Rams finished the third quarter in similar fashion to the second — on a 14-4 run — to blow the lead out to 42-25 by period’s end.

“We had like 46 shot attempts, but the (lack of) makes is what’s hurting us,” Seybert said. “We’re not finishing, we’re not getting put-backs. We aren’t making open layups. We don’t make those, they get a runout, they make a layup that possession and they get a score. It just snowballs on us then.”

Bucyrus played the hosts on even terms in the fourth quarter, but the die was cast.

Maddie Kimmel led the Redmen with a game-high 17 points and Tyrrell added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Upper Sandusky had no double-digit scorers, but four players — Addy Newman, Grace Walton, Jenna Kurtz, and Madison Byrum — had eight points each. Nine different Rams scored in all. Newman and Kurtz had five boards apiece.

“Take nothing away from Bucyrus. Those girls play hard,” Vent said. “They get up in you. I will still argue we had some pretty unbelievable turnovers tonight. They caused some of them. Again, 31 is just too many.”

“They’re working their tails off to get better and I think they are getting better,” Seybert said of his team. “I think they’re improving. They play from the start to the end as hard as they can. They give it everything they’ve got.

“We’ve got the girls that can take the shots,” Seybert added. “They know what shots they can take. Nobody is limited on shots. If they’re open, they’re allowed to shoot it. We’ve just got to knock them down. We’ve got to make them.”

Box score

Bucyrus                         6        11        8       13 — 38

Upper Sandusky      13        15      14      13 — 55

Bucyrus (2-13, 0-11 N10): Shots 16-49; 3-pt. shots 0-6; Free throws 6-8; Rebounds 29 (Emma Tyrrell 10); Turnovers 32. Scoring: Addison Ricker 1 0 2, Maddie Kimmel 6 5 17, Kendra Blizzard 1 0 2, Emma Tyrrell 7 0 14, Adacyn Rister 0 1 1, Marissa Middleton 1 0 2.

Upper Sandusky (10-7, 6-5 N10): Shots 23-46; 3-pt. shots 4-9 (Madison Byrum 2, Grace Walton, Grace Vent); Free throws 5-10; Rebounds 30 (Addy Newman 5, Jenna Kurtz 5); Turnovers 32. Scoring: Addy Newman 3 2 8, Grace Walton 3 1 8, Leah Kinley 2 1 5, Zandria Gallant 3 0 6, Jenna Kurtz 4 0 8, Elle Ham 1 0 2, Grace Vent 2 0 5, Madison Byrum 3 0 8, Velourea Stowers 2 1 5.

JV: Upper Sandusky 24-12 (2 quarters).