NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — Colonel Crawford coach Zac Bauer said that his team is just getting where they need to be this season. That’s really bad news for the rest of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.
“Our sharpness is better, we play a little bit faster on both ends,” Bauer said. “Our secondary defensive rotations have really picked up. Those freshmen and sophomores have learned how to help.”
The Lady Eagles smothered the Bucyrus offense the entire night, dominated the final three periods and came away with a 65-33 win Friday night.
The win improved the league-leading Lady Eagles record to 14-1 overall and 10-1 in the conference. Crawford remains one game ahead of Seneca East in the conference standings. Bucyrus, which just got its first win of the season on Tuesday night, fell to 1-14 overall, 1-10 in the conference.
Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said that, despite facing the best defense in the league, his team executed well.
“When we made the calls, (Crawford) knew what was coming,” Seybert said. “We still executed, on our side of things, and I thought we improved; we’re improving as the season goes on. We got the shots that we wanted. We played defense really well.
“We came here to compete; we came here to improve on things, and I thought we did do that tonight.”
One of the main differences in the game was Crawford’s ability to get to loose balls and grab offensive rebounds. Post Robin Ehmann played her best game of the year, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 offensive rebounds. Mira Holt and Lexi Dure each added 11 points.
Bauer said that, while his team wasn’t as sharp as in previous games, they still fought through.
“It helps when we make shots,” Bauer said. “I don’t think we shot the ball really well tonight and I don’t think we were super crisp, but it didn’t bother our kids much; it didn’t affect attitudes, we just continue to grind through. That’s a senior-led team playing with four underclassmen.”
The Lady Eagles did make 11 of 26 shots from behind the arc. Six different players knocked down threes, with Holt and Carley Zender leading the way with three each.
The two teams battled evenly through the first period. Bucyrus got a basket from Savannah Clark with 50 seconds left to cut the Eagles’ lead to 16-12. But a Dure three with one second left gave Crawford a 19-12 lead.
For the rest of the game, however, the Lady Red scored seven, nine and five points over the final three periods.
“We’re trying to find better shot selection,” Seybert said. “And we’re trying to look into the post a little bit more, which I thought we were doing tonight. And kudos to Savannah Clark. I think she is becoming and finding post moves. And that’s a big step for her. We’re very proud of that.”
Crawford basically put the game away in the second period as Holt dropped three three-point baskets and Crawford grabbed a 36-19 lead at the half.
Clark led the Lady Red with 11 points and Malina Rowland added 10.
“I thought Malina played very well, and Marissa (Middleton) didn’t score a bunch, but she handled the ball, she handled pressure and played really good defense.
“Crawford is just a really tough defense,” Seybert added.
Bucyrus 12 7 9 5 — 33
Colonel Crawford 19 17 18 11 — 65
Bucyrus (1-14, 1-10 N10): Shots 13-33; 3-pt. shots 3-10 (Malina Rowland 2, Lilyan Butchko); Free throws 4-8; Rebounds 26 (Malina Rowland 6); Turnovers 22. Scoring: Aubrie Kimmel 0 2 2, Karlee Shull 1 0 2, Victoria Stang 0 1 1, Marissa Middleton 1 0 2, Lilyan Butchko 2 0 5, Malina Rowland 4 0 10, Savannah Clark 5 1 11.
Colonel Crawford (14-1, 10-1 N10): Shots 25-57; 3-pt. shots 11-26 (Mira Holt 3, Carly Zender 3, Lexi Dure 2, Saylor Holt, Gabby Roston, Lila Plesac); Free throws 4-6; Rebounds 31 (Robin Ehmann 11); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Saylor Holt 1 1 4, Gabby Roston 1 0 3, Lila Plesac 1 0 3, Emmi Powers 3 0 6, Mira Holt 4 0 11, Robin Ehmann 9 0 18, Lexi Dure 3 3 11, Carley Zender 3 0 9.
JV: Colonel Crawford 40-11.