NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — The first game between the county rivals took overtime to decide. This time, host Colonel Crawford took control early and maintained it — and stayed atop the girls Northern 10 Athletic Conference standings — with a 57-33 win over Wynford at Mac Morrison Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
With the victory the Lady Eagles (11-2, 7-1) remain tied with Carey for first place while Wynford (11-3, 6-2) slips into second.
The hosts wasted no time scoring as Saylor Holt opened the game with a wing 3, followed by one from Lexi Duré, along with a drive, to make it 8-0. A 20-8 advantage after one quarter turned into a 28-20 halftime lead.
Crawford head coach Zac Bauer kept his message simple following its first league loss, a 52-46 setback at Carey a week ago.
“I told them at halftime the same thing I did before the game. It’s a big opportunity against a well-coached team in Wynford.
“We have got to do a better job of finding the hot hand. She’s good enough that if you give her that opportunity she’s going to make those shots. We were better at that in the second half,” he said.
The hot hand he referenced was Lady Royals guard Caroline Sheldon. She had 8 of her 16 points in the opening quarter.
The 57 points is 5 points above the season average for CC and Bauer credits Robin Ehmann, his junior post, for that output.
“Robin is so magnetic offensively that when she is posted, there’s so much attention drawn to her that maybe they hold the mid-line a little bit longer than normal. That allows her to catch it on a post feed, and she is so unselfish at skipping the ball and finding the open player.”
The Lady Eagles had plenty of hot hands led by Duré’s 12 points. Ehmann added 9 and 8 rebounds and Emmi Powers 13 points and 8 boards.
Freshman Reese Redman added 8 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.
“Saylor Holt starts off the game with a 3 and Lily Alberty hits one and Claire Smith a couple,” Bauer said. “That starts because Robin draws a lot of attention in the paint and the same goes for Emmi.”
Unselfishness is also a factor.
“A week ago today I think Emmi drove into deep help and forced some shots. Today she was such a willing passer. That opens up 3-point shooting and one of our program standards is Trust Your Teammates. She and Robin did that tonight and our accountability on the outside really showed.”
Sheldon and Maradath Engler kept Wynford close. Engler hit a basket late in the first half. She added 6 points and 3 rebounds, and Rylee Robinson and Jenna Filliater each with 5 rebounds.
“You have to pick your poison. For us, they have two of the leading scorers and rebounders and we wanted to focus on that. They made some big 3s early and we tried not to get too discouraged,” Wynford head coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon said.
“We tried to change the tempo a little bit and didn’t get much out of that. Their 1-7 stepped up, made big shots and made some defensive plays. We were frustrated and it took us out of things that we like to execute.”
Duré sank a pair of 3s to end the third quarter with a 48-24 margin.
“Their game plan coming off a loss in the first round and they wanted to do everything they could to stay on top of the league,” she added.
“They made 9 3s and they’ve not shot consistently like that all year. We tried some adjustments to make them go a little bit faster. We had a great effort, but coach Bauer and coach (Jordan) Shell had a great game plan and their kids stepped up.”
Taylor-Sheldon said you always expect a physical game when you play Colonel Crawford.
“I thought their physicality at times got the best of us. We played hard, missed some shots. There’s a lot of season left to go. We’ll hang in there and execute as best we can and get ready for the next game.”
Wynford hosts Seneca East on Tuesday while Colonel Crawford travels to Mohawk.
“There are going to be obstacles as you pursue a goal. You’re not going to be perfect,” Bauer said. “The difference is the team that can regulate and bounce back fast and find their baseline, their neutral, and who they are.”
Again, Bauer credited a four-year starter in Duré for their success.
“Being the leader and culture builder that she is, she’s been in these big environments, and the crowd doesn’t faze her because she puts the time and the work in and she doesn’t blink when the moment comes,” he said.
“She’s played in a lot of big games and played well. I think back to the district semifinal her sophomore year against Clear Fork. She made a couple of 3s and did the same thing in the sectional finals against Bucyrus that same year.”
Duré added three steals for the Lady Eagles.
“We have tough games ahead. Today is the time to rest and recover and then come back ready to play Tuesday on the road against Mohawk who’s playing really well.”
Box score
Wynford 8 12 4 9 — 33
Colonel Crawford 20 8 20 9 — 57
Wynford (11-3, 6-2 N10): Shots 11-38; 3-pt. shots 3-15 (Caroline Sheldon 2, Jenna Filliater); Free throws 8-15; Rebounds 29 (Rylee Robinson 5, Jenna Filliater 5); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Caroline Sheldon 5 4 16, Megan Young 1 0 2, Maradath Engler 2 2 6, Maggie Ridge 1 0 2, Ally Liming 1 1 3, Paige Sheldon 0 1 1, Jenna Filliater 1 0 3.
Colonel Crawford (11-2, 7-1 N10): Shots 18-45; 3-pt. shots 9-22 (Lexi Dure 3, Reese Redman 2, Claire Smith 2, Saylor Holt, Lily Alberty); Free throws 12-18; Rebounds 31 (Robin Ehmann 8, Emmi Powers 8); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Saylor Holt 1 1 5, Lila Plesac 0 1 1, Emmi Powers 3 7 13, Claire Smith 2 0 6, Robin Ehmann 3 3 9, Lily Alberty 1 0 3, Lexi Dure 4 1 12, Reese Redman 3 0 8.
JV: Colonel Crawford 37-31.