BUCYRUS — Wynford head coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon drew inspiration from a college coach looking at the process of failure and used it to motivate her club.
After three straight losses to Upper Sandusky, Tiffin Colombian and Carey, the veteran coach talked to her team about what they learned.
“I saw a post from (Michigan State University head coach) Tom Izzo talking about how much more you learn from losing than you do from winning,” she said. “We compared three straight wins, what that felt like and what we learned from that with three straight losses and what we learned there.”
The result was a convincing 66-43 win over backyard rival Bucyrus in Northern 10 Athletic Conference girls action Tuesday night at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
“We talked before the game about how can I help you reach your expectations. For Reese (McGuire) one of her things is to be aggressive, but also under control.”
Wynford (8-7, 4-5) was led by McGuire with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals.
“For her size she does an incredible job mentally on the block-outs and has the physical strength to do that. She’s on the bottom of the zone sometimes and can handle a bigger player defensively. She’s a great athlete and plays with a lot of intensity,” Taylor-Sheldon said.
“We certainly were streaky at times, but we had the right streaks at the right times. It went in waves, and we had some really big buckets. We didn’t play very well last Saturday (43-22 loss to the Lady Blue Devils) so this is a good redemption game for us. It was definitely needed.”
Senior teammates Grace Stucky (18 and 7), Alexis Stevely (15) and Katie Wagner (11 and 8) made it a superfecta for the Lady Royals.
“Grace and Katie and Alexis all made buckets at the right time. Unfortunately, we put them at the foul line too much. We have to keep working at it but we’re happy to get a win here at Bucyrus,” she said.
Zoe Whitmeyer came off the bench and contributed 5 points and 3 rebounds.
“She had like a one-handed rebound, finish put-back. I think Zoe has probably progressed the most from her sophomore to her junior year. Those are moments we see where that confidence shows up and finishing in the moment.”
Bucyrus was 16-of-21 from the charity stripe, with 8-of-10 coming in the third quarter.
The Lady Redmen (5-9, 2-8) were paced by Madalyn Kimmel with 13 points and 5 boards. Junior Addison Kemery added 12 and 2.
Lady Redmen head coach Brian Seybert was happy with the way his team started.
“We brought the energy again for the first quarter. We went right into our lull in the second, but I thought the girls played hard the whole time,” he said.
“I can’t doubt their effort at all. Tonight, they came out and were on fire and were pretty aggressive, determined and wanted it a little bit more. Offensive rebounding was a wide margin there and a lot of them were put backs,” Seybert said. “It was in our favor Saturday. Today it wasn’t.”
Wynford held a large advantage in rebounding, 41-21, with about half being on the offensive glass.
Bucyrus trailed 17-15 after the first quarter that featured 5 ties. Wynford opened it up to 33-21 at halftime.
The hosts got key a three from Kimmel to help cut the led to 35-27. But Stucky had a rebound and basket and McGuire a steal and lay-up to push the lead to 12.
“We had 11 straight stops on defense in the fourth quarter,” Taylor-Sheldon said. That limited the Lady Red to just 9 points.
“We just needed to be more consistent and play with our heads and our hearts and our bodies and finish. This game. It’s always big. This is a big crowd for a girls game on a Tuesday night.”
Both teams return to action Friday night with Upper Sandusky visiting Bucyrus and Wynford venturing over to Mohawk.
“We’ve had 5 out of 6 great games, despite winning or losing. We hope to maintain a consistent effort and hopefully start a new win streak,” Taylor-Sheldon said.
Bucyrus now must prepare for a busy weekend.
“We just need to refocus with two tough games. We got Upper coming here Friday night and then Loudonville on Saturday afternoon,” Seybert said.
“From what I’ve seen both are solid teams. We need to prepare for two teams in two days and see what kind of effort we get. We still got some things to do before the tournament draw. Another win or two can go a long way toward that.”
Box score
Wynford 17 16 17 16 — 66
Bucyrus 15 6 13 9 — 43
Wynford (8-7, 4-5 N10): Shots 24-50; 3-pt. shots 7-24 (Maradath Engler 2, Grace Stucky 2, Alexis Stevely 2, Reese McGuire); Free throws 11-15; Rebounds 41 (Reese McGuire 10); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Zoe Whitmeyer 2 1 5, Maradath Engler 2 0 6, Reese McGuire 3 3 10, Kenna Caldwell 0 1 1, Grace Stucky 7 2 18, Alexis Stevely 5 3 15, Katie Wagner 5 1 11.
Bucyrus (5-9, 2-8 N10): Shots 11-42; 3-pt. shots 5-23 (Addison Kemery 2, Maddie Kimmel 2, Brook Dennison); Free throws 16-21; Rebounds 21 (Maddie Kimmel 5); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Maddie Kimmel 4 3 13, Kendra Blizzard 1 1 3, Brook Dennison 1 4 7, Addy Rister 1 0 2, Addison Kemery 3 4 12, Marissa Middleton 1 4 6.