NORTH ROBINSON — Victory by committee. That was the recipe for Colonel Crawford’s girls in gutting out a 39-33 overtime win over Northern 10 Athletic Conference foe Upper Sandusky here Friday night.

Head coach Zac Bauer’s team used a tenacious defense in holding the Lady Rams scoreless over the last 3:51 of the fourth quarter and the entire 4-minute OT period.

“We had to pick up our defensive pressure there down 8 (31-23) late in the game. But in practice we work on situational work, down five with 2 minutes to go or down 6 with 4 minutes go to, so we’re comfortable making those adjustments,” he said.

Colonel Crawford moves to 11-1, 5-1 N10 and plays at Buckeye Central Tuesday night. Upper Sandusky falls to 9-4, 5-2 N10 and hosts Wynford that evening. The Lady Royals upset the Buckettes Friday night 45-39.

“We tell them live in the moment, not too high and not too low,” Bauer said. “We’ve been tested a few times and have come through it.

“You can’t worry about what’s happened or is about to happen. We got the ball in the right hands. Gabby Roston handles the ball so well. She runs the thing so well.”

The 5-foot-2 floor general Roston had 3 points and 6 rebounds.

“Early we attacked the rim pretty well. Late we just couldn’t get anything going,” Upper head coach Jerry Vent said. “We just didn’t make plays to finish out the game. We had an 8-point lead to start the fourth quarter and did exactly what we wanted to do.”

Grace Walton drilled a 3-pointer to make it 31-23 before Upper Sandusky was shut down.

“I said, ‘Girls, we gotta get a stop and a score, but we gave them a chance to get back in it. Our rhythm and flow just went away after that first quarter.”

Allison Weithman then drove for a basket and Roston and Lynae McKibben drained 3s bracketing a Kaidance Iles bucket to pull the hosts to with two at 33-31. Mallory Plesac made 1-of-2 free throws after a Roston steal and the Lady Eagles tied the game at 33-33.

Balance was the key for the Lady Eagles.

McKibben led the way with 10 points, along with Mira Holt (8), Weithman (7) Plesac (6 and 8 rebounds).

“That’s huge. That balance is something we talk about a lot. Our kids are told you never know when it’s your turn. The ball will find you. If you’re on the floor, plays will find you and you got to be ready to make a play,” Bauer said.

McKibben, a junior, knew it was her turn to help her team.

“It takes all 5. We are told all the time, be ready for your moment. I feel like tonight we did a great job of, when we were down, we looked for the open person. It was a great team win,” she said.

“We talk about balance. A good team has 5 people that can score, but we have 9. We’re ready for every game and we are on to Buckeye next week,” McKibben said.

Vent credited Crawford for the comeback.

“When you give them extra possessions by turning the ball over (which they did 19 times) and not rebounding. A good team is going to take advantage of that, and they did. They got themselves back in the game. In overtime all the momentum was with them, and we couldn’t get it shifted.”

Iles paced the Lady Rams with 11 and Leah Kinley added 10. Iles is the third-leading scorer in the league averaging 13 points per game.

Bauer said preparation is key to winning close games.

“The kids know what to expect and how to execute, and we’re not out of the fight until the buzzer ends. The kids aren’t afraid. They put the work in, the quality time in, when they need to.”

In a defensive game, Crawford showed poise and patience especially in the second half. They committed just 3 second-half turnovers.

“You’re not always going to make shots. But you can always defend. Diving for loose balls starts with our leaders … Lynae, Allison, Mallory … and that trickles down to Gabby, Mira, Ayla (McKibben), Niyah (Shipman), Lexi (Rush), Lexi Duré,” Bauer said.

“When your leadership plays hard and is willing to put themselves on the line for a loose ball, then that trickles down to everybody.”

With the win Colonel Crawford prepares for its second showdown with the Buckettes.

“With our first league loss being to Buckeye early in the year, we knew that there was a chance we could go back there and play a close-type game. But we had to take care of ourselves and take it one game at a time. Upper is a quality opponent. They had a heck of a game plan and that’s a great team.”

Buckeye Central won the first meeting, 38-19.

The Lady Eagles won the junior varsity game in overtime. 34-28. Carley Zender had 8 points for the winners, with Duré adding 6 and Camryn Powers 5. Bailey Fox netted 8 for Upper Sandusky.

Box score

Upper Sandusky      13         7        8        5       0 — 33

Colonel Crawford    12         7        4      10       6 — 39

Upper Sandusky (9-4, 5-2 N10): Shots 11-30; 3-pt. shots 3-6 (Addy Newman, Grace Walton, Kaidance Iles); Free throws 8-11; Rebounds 17 (Velourea Stowers 5); Turnovers 19. Scoring: Addy Newman 2 0 5, Grace Walton 1 2 5, Leah Kinley 2 6 10, Kaidance Iles 5 0 11, Velourea Stowers 1 0 2.

Colonel Crawford (11-1, 5-1 N10): Shots 13-27; 3-pt. shots 5-8 (Mira Holt 2, Lynae McKibben 2, Allison Weithman); Free throws 8-12; Rebounds 29 (Mallory Plesac 8); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Gabby Roston 0 3 3, Mallory Plesac 1 4 6, Mira Holt 3 0 8, Allison Weithman 3 0 7, Niyah Simpson 2 1 5, Lynae McKibben 4 0 10.

JV: Colonel Crawford 34-28 (OT).