CAREY — It was the last game of a long regular season for Bucyrus and as has been the case most of the year, Lady Redmen coach Taylor Tackett had to face a strong opponent with a short bench.

Carey was celebrating senior night — recognizing its only senior, Emmy Wood — while also honoring Blue Devil’s coach Phil Vaughn as the winningest girls’ basketball coach in program history with 206 victories.

The Blue Devils carried the celebration into the game with the Lady Redmen, using a suffocating defense and dominant post play to defeat the visitors, 70-25, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.

The size mismatch was obvious as Carey (15-7, 10-6 N10) controlled the boards, outrebounding Bucyrus, 44-33, pulling down 22 offensive rebounds.

The Redmen had one player, Taylor Myers, who could bang with the Blue Devils on the block and she got into early foul trouble. The other one who might have helped, Sierra Frost, was out sick.

“We went back and watched the film of our first game with them and they hit one 3,” Tackett said. “We decided to go to a 2-3 zone and pack it in a little. They hit 3s, as expected. That’s what happens when you decide to switch up your defenses a little bit.”

The Redmen stayed reasonably close early, trailing just 15-8 after one quarter. But a 22-4 Blue Devils’ advantage in the second quarter made it 37-12 at halftime and Bucyrus (1-21, 1-15 N10) never could never recover.

Carey’s defense held the Redmen to just 14 shots in the first half and 32 for the game. Offensively, the Blue Devils attempted 66 shots and hit four 3s in the first half, nine for the game.

“At one point tonight, I asked if we have hands because we just couldn’t grab those rebounds,” Tackett said. “We can tip it and go after it. We just cannot grab those rebounds.”

Bucyrus did get to the free throw line a little bit, hitting 12 of 19 attempts but only converted six field goals.

On the other side, 11 Blue Devils scored in all, led by Sadie Arend’s 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Avarie Stewart added 10 points six rebounds.

“We couldn’t stop that inside presence,” Tackett said. “Part of that is we just don’t have that size right now. The physicality was not matched.”

Caleigh Rister led Bucyrus with 13 points and seven rebounds and Karmyn Blizzard finished with five points.

“On thing is these girls will always go out, play hard and hustle and give the effort,” Tackett said. “We just need to put all our basketball skills together in one game to make the difference.”

The Redmen enter tournament play on Wednesday when they take on No. 2 seed Hopewell-Loudon in the Division III sectional at Old Fort. Tip time is 6:15 p.m.

Carey takes on Milan Edison in the nightcap at Old Fort on Wednesday.

Box score

Bucyrus   8    4      4    9 — 25

Carey  15   22   14   19 — 70

Bucyrus (1-21, 1-15 N10): Shots 6-32; 3-pt. shots 1-9 (Karmyn Blizzard); Free throws 12-19; Rebounds 33 (Caleigh Rister 7); Turnovers 30. Scoring: Caleigh Rister 3 7 13, Karmyn Blizzard 1 2 5, Maddie Kimmel 1 2 4, Taylor Myers 1 1 3.

Carey (15-7, 10-6 N10): Shots 25-66; 3-pt. shots 9-24 (Ellison Roark 2, Miah Ritter 2, Ady Stewart 2, Hunter Hart, Emmy Wood, Alaina Tiell); Free throws 11-21; Rebounds 44 (Avarie Stewart 6); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Julie Boes 0 1 1, Ellison Roark 2 0 6, Alaina Tiell 2 4 9, Emmy Wood 1 0 3, Avarie Stewart 5 0 10, Hunter Hart 2 1 6, Miah Ritter 2 0 6, Ady Stewart 3 1 9, Bailey Tanner 0 2 2, Sadie Arend 5 2 12, J. Brodman 3 0 6.