CARDINGTON — With a bench thinned by injury and illness, the Bucyrus Lady Redmen continue to make do with the players that are healthy.

The Lady Red fell behind by 12 points to Cardington at halftime and trailed by as many as 18 in the third quarter. But Bucyrus rallied to cut the deficit to single digits before dropping a 50-44 non-league decision to the Pirates.

“The first half, we had some adversity going,” Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said. “But we battled through. We were only down 12 (at halftime) and we weren’t really shooting the ball well.”

To Seybert’s point, the Lady Red hit just five of 24 shots from the field in posting a pair of seven-point quarters.

On the other side, Cardington (3-3) was shooting the ball at a high percentage, hitting nine of 19 from the floor. All other stats were virtually equal for the teams.

“We came out pretty aggressively. We made some shots in the first quarter,” Pirates coach Kevin Fitzpatrick said. “It’s been kind of our problem all year — making shots early. We’re usually pretty good in the second, third, and fourth quarters.”

Abigail Hardwick had eight of her 16 points in the first two periods and Kinstin Henthorn added eight of her 10 as the Pirates built a 26-14 lead by intermission.

Cardington continued the offensive momentum into the first half of the third quarter. The Pirates looked to salt the game away when they started the second half on a 10-4 run capped by a Hardwick 3-point shot at the 4:40 mark of the third period.

But the tide turned quickly from that point to the end of the frame. Bucyrus (2-4) went on a 15-4 run of its own to trim the deficit to 40-33 at period’s end. Brook Dennison led the charge with seven points.

“We came out in the third quarter and cut it to seven,” Seybert said. “That’s the will of the girls. They are not going to give up. They’re going to keep working hard.”

The Lady Red got within five three times in the fourth quarter, the last on a basket by Dennison to make it 47-42 with 1:58 left. But they could not make further inroads.

The Pirates were able milk the clock and made a couple of free throws to hold on. Bucyrus missed its last four shots from the field.

“We made some big plays when we had to,” Fitzpatrick said. “We had some big rebounds, and we also made some big shots.”

Among the biggest, according to Fitzpatrick, came from freshman Jill Bertke, who hit a baseline jumper with 2:57 left in the game to help stave off the Lady Red’s rally.

Dennison led Bucyrus with 15 points, Addison Kemery had 11, and Marissa Middleton finished with 10. Addison Ricker grabbed seven rebounds.

“We were being a little more aggressive with the ball.” Seybert said of the second half surge. “They were being pretty aggressive on defense after we would get a rebound. We just had to make sure we held onto the ball.”

Hardwick added 10 rebounds to her game-high 16 points for the Pirates. Henthorn finished with 10 points and Lundy Blevins had eight.

“We were trying to run the offense (down the stretch),” Fitzpatrick said. “If we had a chance to attack, we were going to attack. If not, we were going to bleed some clock and then try to get to the basket and maybe the foul line.

“I hope we can keep weathering the storm,” he added. “We started out 0-3 and now we’re 3-3.”

“Eventually, some of these (close games) are going to start coming our way when we get back to full strength,” Seybert said. “We’re still a little short-handed, still a little sick. We’ll play with everybody we have and continue to give effort.”

Cardington also won the junior varsity game, 42-21.

Box score

Bucyrus             7         7        19        11 — 44

Cardington     11      15        14        10 — 50

Bucyrus (2-4): Shots 14-46; 3-pt. shots 3-13 (Brook Dennison, Addison Kemery, Marissa Middleton); Free throws 13-18; Rebounds 27 (Addison Ricker 7); Turnovers 22. Scoring: Addison Ricker 3 0 6, Brook Dennison 5 4 15, Addison Kemery 2 6 11, Marissa Middleton 3 3 10, Malina Rowland 1 0 2.

Cardington (3-3): Shots 18-41; 3-pt. shots 6-12 (Lydia Hess 2, Kinstin Henthorn 2, Abigail Hardwick, Lundy Blevins); Free throws 8-14; Rebounds 30 (Abigail Hardwick 10); Turnovers 27. Scoring: Madison Caulkins 1 1 3, Morgan Powell 1 0 2, Jill Bertke 1 3 5, Lydia Hess 2 0 6, Abigail Hardwick 6 3 16, Kinstin Henthorn 4 0 10, Lundy Blevins 3 1 8.

JV: Cardington 42-21.