BUCYRUS — The Bucyrus Lady Redmen are young and improving.
The Colonel Crawford Eagles are also young but have a senior leader — Kaylyn Risner.
Risner scored a game-high 18 points — 14 of which came in the first half — to lead the Eagles to a 45-35 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
“She did. She carried it,” Colonel Crawford coach Kyle Fenner said of Risner. “In the second half, we had some other people step up and score. Allison Weithman hit a couple of (3-point shots) that helped us out. We got a couple of steals too.”
Steals and other forms of turnovers continue to haunt the young Redmen. Bucyrus (2-11, 0-9 N10) committed 23 miscues on the day. It remains a concern for the Redmen coaching staff.
“That’s our Achilles’ heel all year — turnovers,” Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said. “We’re always right around 20-23. It’s more of what we’re doing on our own. They’re caused by us. I don’t think so much it’s the defense or the other team. It’s our own issues.
“We keep talking about it and working on it in practice, but it’s just not transitioning to the floor yet in games,” he added. “Hopefully, that changes here soon.”
Colonel Crawford (6-8, 2-7) got the early lead and never trailed. The Eagles had a 12-6 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Risner had scored nine of those 12.
The Redmen were able to hang around, thanks to 14 trips to the free throw line, where they converted on eight. Bucyrus made only three field goals in the first two quarters but was within 21-14 at halftime.
“We knew what they were going to do and that was try to get to the basket and they did,” Fenner said. “We committed way too many fouls in the first half. I don’t know the final stats, but I feel they scored a lot of points, especially in the first half, from the free throw line.”
Bucyrus’ 2-3 zone defense effectively kept the Eagles out of the paint in the first half. Colonel Crawford hit just nine of 31 shots, including two of 12 from 3-point range.
“When we broke down in the zone, that’s when they got their shots,” Seybert said. “But the energy was there. We were a lot better in the zone today than we were the first time around. We mixed it up. We went man at one time and man in the fourth quarter when it started getting away. But the zone was effective.”
“We talked about that at halftime,” Fenner said. “Take the three if you’re open. We’ve got to make some. But we’ve got to look inside and get the ball inside a little bit too.”
The Redmen just could not get the lead. They cut it to 21-16 early in the third quarter, but Colonel Crawford went on an 11-2 run to create its biggest lead at 34-18, the final two coming on a basket by Mallory Plesac. The advantage was 34-22 by period’s end.
The closest Bucyrus got was nine — twice in the fourth quarter — the last at 44-35 with just 15 seconds left on a basket by Maddie Kimmel.
Only four players on each team scored. Lynae McKibben seconded Risner’s 18 with points for the Eagles. Risner also had seven rebounds.
Emma Tyrrell topped Bucyrus with 16 points and Kimmel added 15. Tyrrell grabbed 10 rebounds.
“That’s what we need out of those two, being our leading scorers, our leading rebounders,” Seybert said. “That’s what we need.”
“They hung around, but I thought we battled,” Fenner said. “We had some kids in spots at the end that we didn’t want them. It was good. We played hard and we battled. It’s a win. We’ll take it, move on, and get ready for Carey on Tuesday.”
“They’re up in your face on defense,” Seybert said of the Eagles. “They run a great man-to-man defense. They’re right there and force you to play well. We fought back, got it within 10 — less than 10, I think. We tried to come back.
“It’s a slow process for us,” Seybert added. “We’re working in practice every day, trying to make (the pick-and-roll) a staple of our offense. When we run it, it works well. The effort’s there. You can’t ask for anything more except for maybe a few more wins.”
Colonel Crawford won the junior varsity game, 43-28.
Box score
Colonel Crawford 12 9 13 11 — 45
Bucyrus 6 8 8 13 — 35
Colonel Crawford (6-8, 2-7 N10): Shots 15-45; 3-pt. shots 4-19 (Allison Weithman 2, Kaylyn Risner, Lynae McKibben); Free throws 11-18; Rebounds 22 (Kaylyn Risner 7); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Mallory Plesac 3 1 7, Allison Weithman 2 2 8, Kaylyn Risner 7 3 18, Lynae McKibben 3 5 12.
Bucyrus (2-11, 0-9 N10): Shots 12-24; 3-pt. shots 1-7 (Maddie Kimmel); Free throws 10-17; Rebounds 28 (Emma Tyrrell 10); Turnovers 23. Scoring: Maddie Kimmel 4 6 15, Kendra Blizzard 1 0 2, Emma Tyrrell 6 4 16, Adacyn Rister 1 0 2.
JV: Colonel Crawford 43-28.