NORTH ROBINSON — Tough, physical play was the preferred style when two teams met to settle first-place in the girls’ Northern 10 Athletic Conference game Saturday afternoon.

When the dust settled it was the host Colonel Crawford Lady Eagles topping the Carey Lady Blue Devils 39-34 to gain sole possession at the top of the hill.

Colonel Crawford (10-0, 4-0) prevailed in a game where it never trailed despite a strong effort by Carey in a tournament-like atmosphere.

“It’s good to see the Colonel Crawford community and the Carey community travel this far for a noon Saturday game to support girls basketball. Both teams, with the records we brought to the game, deserve that type of atmosphere with the quality of basketball we played,” Colonel Crawford head coach Zac Bauer said.

The Lady Eagles took a modest 10-7 lead after a quarter as Mira Holt (3 points) and Allison Weithman (5 points) got the black and gold out to a lead. Holt finished with 8 and Weithman 7.

Sophomore Lexi Duré came off the bench with 12 points, 2 rebounds, an assist and 3 steals to spark Crawford.

That effort, and a change in their defense, helped the Lady Eagles get their 10th win of the season.

“We gave them some input and at halftime we talked to them about going to a zone (a 3-2 that was effective) and we had to tweak that a little bit from what we practiced. The credit all goes to them. They’re the ones that have to go out there and execute,” Bauer said.

But Carey (6-1, 3-1) hung around, trailing 19-17 at intermission, and never was out of the contest.

A long scoring drought in the third and early fourth quarters hurt the Lady Devils, according to Carey head coach Keith O’Flaherty.

“That stretch hurt us. We had a little issue right there. And at the start of the game, we go 0-for-6 shooting free throws,” he said.

Carey hit just 4-of-10 from the charity stripe.

“We didn’t get the looks we wanted. The girls that normally put the ball up weren’t comfortable and missed a couple. Give Crawford credit. Them girls were putting a lot of pressure on us and not giving us good looks,” O’Flaherty said.

Riley Yost scored a dozen points and grabbed 7 rebounds to lead her team. Kynlee Phillips added 9 and Rylee Row 8.

Colonel Crawford pushed the lead to 30-24 after three quarters. A pair of three-pointers by Duré and Ayla McKibben provided the cushion.

A seven-point third quarter by Carey allowed the Lady Eagles to open up an 11-point lead at 37-26. A Yost steal and lay-up cut into the margin and made it a 37-34 game.

“We challenged them at halftime. We said if we’re going to play zone we have to rebound,” Bauer said.

In the first half Carey controlled the glass, 17-4. But by game’s end it was 28-18 as Crawford did a better job of keeping the Blue Devils from getting second-chance points.

“They do such a good job on the offensive glass and it’s hard to rebound from a zone being a man team because we’re just not used to it,” Bauer added.

“We found bodies and Gabby Roston goes down there and gets rebounds in traffic. Not just Gabby, but everybody, mentally finding a body and rebounding. Not just boxing out but rebounding.”

Roston had 4 boards along with Ayla McKibben. Rush and Lynae McKibben added 3 rebounds apiece for Colonel Crawford.

“We knew it would be physical. It’s a mentality thing,” Bauer said. “We’ve got a lot of smart basketball players on this team, a lot of smart kids.

“We stress balance. Lexi Duré works hard. In the summertime, she comes in the gym on her own some days and she has put the time in. We’ve had 3 games where she’s shot the ball really well. It’s nice to see her be rewarded for the time she puts in,” he said.

O’Flaherty said his team worked hard to get back into the game, cutting it to two points in the fourth quarter.

“We couldn’t get anything else to fall. They had shots fall for them, as the home team, that’s how things go. Their defense got us out of synch a little bit and kept us from our offensive set that we usually run,” he said.

“Pressure. We got up on them a little tighter and got them to make some mistakes and turnovers and getting the ball back. But we weren’t converting them into points. We’d get a turnover and wouldn’t get any points off that.”

Carey visits Buckeye Central Dec. 30, while Colonel Crawford hosts Seneca East Dec. 28 when N10 action resumes next week.

Box score

Carey                                 7      10         7       10 — 34

Colonel Crawford       10         9       11         9 — 39

Carey (6-1, 3-1 N10): Shots 14-38; 3-pt. 2-8 (Riley Yost, Ella Clinger); Free throws 4-10; Rebounds 30 (Riley Yost 7, Emily Brodman 7); Turnovers 18. Scoring: Rylee Row 4 0 8, Rachel Reinhart 1 0 2, Ella Clinger 1 0 3, Riley Yost 5 1 12, Kynlee Phillips 3 3 9.

Colonel Crawford (10-0, 4-0 N10): Shots 12-31; 3-pt. shots 5-11 (Lexi Dure 2, Ayla McKibben, Gabby Roston, Allison Weithman); Free throws 10-12; Rebounds 18 (Gabby Roston 4, Ayla McKibben 4); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Gabby Roston 2 0 5, Mira Holt 3 2 8, Allison Weithman 1 4 7, Lexi Rush 1 0 2, Lexi Dure 4 2 12, Ayla McKibben 1 2 5.

JV: Colonel Crawford 31-29.