NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — Players stepping up in key moments reflect upon a good program.

Junior Lexi Duré did it early in the game and freshman Emmi Powers later and both did it when Colonel Crawford needed it.

The Lady Eagles defeated Seneca East 47-29 and claimed their first Northern 10 Athletic Conference championship at Mac Morrison Gymnasium Friday night.

“We were in this game once and we lost. We found a way to get past it. You can’t worry about not losing. You’ve got to play to win, and our kids practice to win. And they played hard,” said head coach Zac Bauer.

Mohawk won that game last year.

Colonel Crawford (17-2, 11-2) fell behind 4-0 when Lady Tigers junior Izzy Stockmaster made two early baskets. From there it was all Colonel Crawford as a 20-5 run changed the game.

Duré hit a pair of 3s that helped propel the hosts to a 20-9 lead after the first quarter.

“Lexi is a girl that works so hard for us and puts in the individual time. We spoke with her about you don’t know when your moment is going to come — and it came early. Then you don’t know when it’s going to come again. Emmi Powers steps in there in the second half and makes play after play.”

Duré finished with 10 points and Powers a team-high 12, with 6 in each half. Duré added 3 rebounds and Robin Ehmann 9 points and 2 rebounds.

“Emmi is a really special basketball player and only being a ninth grader she has a real bright future for us,” Bauer said.

Powers said pace was critical to winning the game.

“Coach told us to slow down and that’s exactly what we needed to do. Keep the pace down and keep the lead,” she said.

“Driving was the key and gapping, gap help on defense. You’ve got to cherish the good moments in the game and just have fun.

“The older girls, I give a lot of credit to them because they definitely stepped up to be leaders.”

Defense was the key for the Lady Eagles, forcing 16 turnovers with 12 steals. Ehmann and Mira Holt had 3 takeaways each.

“The defensive game you have to give a lot of credit to our assistant Jordan Shell. He does a lot of prep work and how he wants the defensive game plan to go. Getting the girls to buy into that is something we try to establish early in our program tenure and it’s something he’s continued.”

The Lady Eagles took a 31-18 lead at halftime as Seneca East (13-6, 9-4) had difficulty finding its offensive rhythm.

“When you have girls like Gabby (Roston), Lexi, Emmi, Saylor (Holt), Lila (Plesac) out there rattling people, it’s just a relentless attack and something we really pride ourselves on,” Bauer said.

The Lady Tigers were led by Stockmaster with 8 points. Luella Burkholder added 6 points.

“We had a good start, and they hit three 3s in a row. We were a little late getting out to them and we just couldn’t overcome it,” Seneca East head coach George Parks said. “When I looked at the scoreboard, their balance really got us tonight. It wasn’t just one person, it was everybody. When they’re all clicking, it’s tough.”

Colonel Crawford saw its lead slip to 8 at 35-27 when Cami Lantz hit a pair of free throws in the fourth period.

Powers and Ehmann responded with baskets, along with one from Duré, to make it 45-27.

“At halftime we talked about playing with heart and playing with pride. We’ve been down 13 before and we cut the lead to 9 and had them rattled a little bit and got a couple of turnovers in a row.”

The Lady Tigers were held to 4 points over the last 8 minutes.

“I thought we played well until the end, and we ran out of gas a little bit,” Parks said. “I can’t say a bad thing about these girls. They work their butts off.”

Seneca East won one game two years ago, which was Parks’ first at the helm. Last season the team was 8-16.

“They worked hard and stayed positive. I told them last week that if you said we are playing for a league title on a Friday night, any one of us would have taken it. I’ve been around a lot of good teams, and I can honestly say this is probably my favorite team I’ve ever had.”

Parks has no seniors on the roster.

“We got a lot to look forward to. We’ve got a great tournament coming up and I think we can make a deep tournament run.”

Winning an outright league title is no easy task, especially in a tough conference.

“It’s special. This is the 50th year in our program’s history. To come out and win a league championship in a super competitive Northern 10. It’s so competitive,” Bauer said.

“It’s a special moment for a special team.”

Colonel Crawford hosts Fredericktown on Wednesday in non-league play. Seneca East welcomes Western Reserve Tuesday night.

Box score

Seneca East                   9         9          7          4 — 29

Colonel Crawford      20       11         4        12 — 47

Seneca East (13-6, 9-4 N10): Shots 9-40; 3-pt. shots 2-18 (Jordyn Enders, Madi Smith); Free throws 9-13; Rebounds 15 (Cami Lantz 5); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Cami Lants 0 3 3, Jordyn Enders 1 0 3, Alexa Snay 1 3 5, Madi Smith 1 0 3, Karli Foos 0 1 1, Izzy Stockmaster 4 0 8, Luella Burkholder 2 2 6.

Colonel Crawford (17-2, 11-2 N10): Shots 15-35; 3-pt. shots 4-10 (Lexi Dure 2, Mira Holt, Carly Zender); Free throws 13-15; Rebounds 17 (Mira Holt 4); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Saylor Holt 1 2 4, Gabby Roston 1 2 4, Emmi Powers 5 2 12, Mira Holt 2 0 5, Robin Ehmann 2 5 9, Lexi Duré 3 2 10, Carley Zender 1 0 3.

JV: Colonel Crawford 38-33 (OT).