WILLARD — It was going to be a tall order —literally — for Bucyrus to knock off No. 4 seed Western Reserve in its tournament game.

After all, the Lady Riders started four players that were taller than all but one person on the Lady Redmen roster — including 6-foot Cora Wyers — and there were more where that came from on the bench.

In the end, Western Reserve’s size wore down Bucyrus and the Riders won going away, 64-27, in the opening round of the girls’ Division III sectional tournament at Robert Haas Gymnasium.

“(Western Reserve) came out strong in the second half and they utilized their posts,” Bucyrus coach Taylor Tackett said. “It’s hard when our tallest (starting) player is 5-7 and we’ve got to box out two 6-foot girls.”

Junior Jill Wise, at 5-11, comes off the bench for the Redmen, but even then, she was one player against what may have seemed like legions.

The undersized Redmen held their own, however, for two quarters. Western Reserve (18-4) opened a gaudy 19-6 lead after eight minutes, despite Bucyrus’ (2-21) holding Wyers to two points in the first period.

Ni’Georia Floyd caught fire for the Redmen in the second quarter, draining three 3-point shots, to help Bucyrus outscore the Riders, 13-11, and head for the locker room trailing 30-19.

“Walking into halftime, I thought, ‘Man, we’re down (only) 11 and we gave up 14 offensive rebounds to that point,’” Tackett said. “And I think they scored on every one of them. I said, if we cut those in half, it’s a completely different story. We might be on the other end of things.”

But the size disparity began to take its toll in the second half. The Redmen scored first in the third period on a 3 by Caleigh Rister at the 6:54 mark to get within eight, 30-22.

It was all downhill from there for Bucyrus. Western Reserve went on a 22-4 run from there to the end of the third to lead 52-26 and erase any doubt as to the outcome.

In the frame, Wyers broke the Western Reserve career scoring record of 1108 with a pair of free throws, with at least one more game left for the senior.

“We limited the turnovers even with the (Riders’) press,” Tackett said. “They had a pretty nice press. We actually utilized the bounce pass to the middle and then looked back side. So, we executed that well.”

Its year-long nemesis, shooting, prevented Bucyrus from hanging with the Western Reserve. The Redmen were 0 of 9 from the field in the fourth quarter and just 10 of 54 for the game.

“We shot bad in the first quarter, kind of came back a little bit in the second quarter and just kind of fell back off again,” Tackett said. “They are long and it’s hard to shoot against long teams. They probably had 10-12 blocks on us, but the girls continued to attack the basket. That’s good to see.”

Wyers finished to with a game-high 19 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Riders, who held a whopping 68-27 advantage on the glass, nearly mirroring the final score. Avery Tubbs added 11 points as nine different Western Reserve players scored.

Floyd had nine points for Bucyrus and Alivia Lewis dropped in six. Claire Schifer grabbed five rebounds. Floyd, Lewis and Lauren Kohler played their final game in a Redmen uniform.

“Both Ni’Georia and Liv have been around all four years, so they’ve contributed a lot to this program,” Tackett said. “They know what it takes. And I’m thankful Lauren came back out and wanted to play her senior year. It gives us another body, someone else who wants to work hard. It’s one thing I appreciate, that she came in, but she also wanted to work hard, and she wanted to better the team.”

Western Reserve moves on to the upper bracket sectional final, where the Riders will meet No. 6 seed Colonel Crawford on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. back at Willard.

“I give the girls credit for trying to execute the game plan, trying to run a new defense that we’re not really used to, someone fronting the post and someone playing behind,” Tackett said. “I do give them credit for their effort. It just didn’t turn out our way.”

In the nightcap, Galion fell behind Huron, 9-0, in the first period and could never quite catch up as the Tigers fell to their namesakes, 53-46, in the lower bracket semifinal.

Only four players scored for No. 9 seeded Huron (4-18), but three of them were in double figures, led by diminutive Rae Roldan’s game-high 20 points. Olivia Lagando added 15 and Ava Winnestaffer finished with 14. Madison Belden pulled down 11 rebounds.

Senior Gracie Groves led Galion (3-20) with 16 points — 12 in the fourth quarter — and Gabby Kaple tossed in 15. Each had three 3s. Groves had 13 rebounds. Groves and Kaple each played their last game for Galion.

Huron held leads of 19-14 at halftime and 29-22 after three quarters, then matched a furious 24-point Galion fourth quarter, where the southern Tigers cut the deficit to one point twice but could never get the lead.

Huron advances to the lower bracket sectional final on Saturday at 8 p.m., at Haas Gymnasium, where the Tigers will face No. 1 seed Margaretta.

Box scores

Western Reserve 64, Bucyrus 27

Bucyrus                      6     13      7        1 — 27

Western Reserve   19    11    22      12 — 64

Stats

Bucyrus (2-21): Shots 10-54; 3-pt shots 4-20 (Ni’Georia Floyd 3, Caleigh Rister); Free throws 3-6; Rebounds 27 (Claire Schifer 5); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Ni’Georia Floyd 3 0 9, Caleigh Rister 1 1 4, Alivia Lewis 2 2 6, Lauren Kohler 1 0 2, Taylor Patterson 1 0 2, Claire Schifer 1 0 2, Jill Wise 1 0 2.

Western Reserve (18-4): Shots 25-69; 3-pt. shots 1-7 (Avery Tubbs); Free throws 13-20; Rebounds 68 (Cora Wyers 17); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Katie Hipp 3 1 7, Isabella Zvara 2 0 4, Jenna Skrada 0 3 3, Avery Tubbs 5 0 11, Isabelle Duchette 1 0 2, McKenna Woodruff 4 1 9, Emma Blankenship 1 0 2, Emma Weber 2 3 7, Cora Wyers 7 5 19.

Huron 53, Galion 46

Galion     0      14      8     24 — 46

Huron     9      10    10     24 — 53

Galion (3-20): Shots 16-49; 3-pt. shots 7-23 (Gabby Kaple 3, Gracie Groves 3, Natalie Perkins); Free throws 7-18; Rebounds 44 (Gracie Groves 13); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Mykenzie Debord 1 0 2, Heaven Phelps 1 4 6, Teanna Greter 2 0 4, Gracie Groves 6 1 16, Gabby Kaple 5 2 15, Natalie Perkins 1 0 3.

Huron (4-18): Shots 17-36; 3-pt. shots 6 (Rae Roldan 4, Ava Winnestaffer, Olivia Lagando); Free throws 13-27; Rebounds 43 (Madison Belden 11); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Rae Roldan 6 4 20, Ava Winnestaffer 5 3 14, Olivia Lagando 5 4 15, Madison Belden 1 2 4.