By Dan Messerschmidt

BUCYRUS — The beat goes on for the Bucyrus Lady Redmen to start the 2017-18 season.

Bucyrus entered its Northern 10 Conference game with Mohawk undefeated and the Redmen kept their ledger unblemished with after a 48-32 victory over the Warriors at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.

A fast start gave Bucyrus (5-0, 2-0 N10) gave the Redmen some breathing room later in the game.

“They started in a zone (defense) and we were able to get some offensive rebounds,” Bucyrus coach Taylor Whitaker said. “We did it well in the first half. In the second half, we stopped rebounding.”

The Redmen jumped out to a 17-6 lead in the first quarter. Five Bucyrus players reached the scoring column and the hosts had an 11-3 edge on the boards.

“We didn’t come ready to play today,” Mohawk coach Amy Kozel said. “It’s on them. We’re a better ball team than that and they know it.”

Bucyrus kept the pedal to the metal in the second period. Ni’Georia Floyd scored all six of her points in the frame as the Redmen stretched the lead to 31-15 by intermission. Mohawk attempted only 17 shots, got five rebounds and committed 13 turnovers in the first two periods.

The teams played even in the second half and the Warriors were never able to get the deficit under double digits. The closest they got was 36-25 on a basket by Grace Morehart at 1:58 of the third quarter.

“(Mohawk) is an aggressive team,” Whitaker said. “Sometimes, our girls don’t like (to play that style). But we have to be aggressive as well but limit fouls.”

Shaina Orewiler scored nine of her game-high 13 points in the second half to help hold Mohawk at bay. Kiana Zehner added 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Izzy Burling had eight boards.

Nine different Warriors scored, but none of them were in double figures. Marah Gillig and Anna Stillberger had seven points each to top Mohawk. Stillberger and Paityn Clouse pulled down six rebounds each.

“We’re still getting to know how to play together,” Kozel said. “We have three freshman and a couple of sophomores. We’re not cohesive yet. We stand around waiting for Anna (Stillberger) to score. We have to get other people involved.”

Whitaker was happy with a home conference win, but wants to keep her team focused.

“Mohawk got into some early foul trouble,” Whitaker cautioned. “We have Seneca East coming up next and they will have the most talent we’ve seen so far. They have shooters.”

Bucyrus goes to Seneca East on Tuesday. Mohawk hosts Tiffin Calvert in a non-league game.

Bucyrus won the junior varsity game, 33-29, for the jayvees’ first win of the year. Taylor Patterson had a game-high 15 points and Caleigh Rister added seven.

Jackie Hamilton tallied eight points for the Warriors, while Alexis Stauffer finished with seven.

Bucyrus 48, Mohawk 32

Mohawk       6       9    10      7 — 32

Bucyrus       17    14      7    10 — 48

Stats

Mohawk (2-4, 1-2 N10): Shots 11-43; 3-pt shots 3-9 (Shay Miller 2, Sandra Pennington); Free throws 7-14; Rebounds 28 (Paityn Clouse 6, Anna Stillberger 6); Turnovers 21. Scoring: Paityn Clouse 0 2 2, Shay Miller 2 0 6, Grace Morehart 1 0 2, Marah Gillig 3 1 7, Aubrey Margraf 0 2 2, Aubrie Harper 0 1 1, Sandra Pennington 1 0 3, Brooke Hannam 1 0 2, Anna Stillberger 3 1 7.

Bucyrus (5-0, 2-0 N10): Shots 17-49; 3-pt. shots 0-7; Free throws 14-24; Rebounds 20 (Izzy Burling 8, Kiana Zehner 7); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Ni’Georia Floyd 1 2 6, Caleigh Rister 0 1 1, Alivia Lewis 1 5 7, Izzy Burling 3 1 7, Shaina Orewiler 5 3 13, Alex Rule 1 0 2, Kiana Zehner 5 2 12.

JV: Bucyrus 33-29.