VANLUE — Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert knew his new-look Lady Redmen would need some time to gel.
It took three-plus quarters of their first game, but the offense started to click. Vanlue led at every quarter break — by five to seven points — before Bucyrus scored 23 points in the fourth period for a 52-48 win over the Wildcats in the season opener for both teams.
Addison Kemery returned to Bucyrus from Colonel Crawford mid-season last year but did not play for the Redmen. Brook Dennison moved into the district from Northmor in the offseason.
Add in a road game to start the season, and it took a little while to get untracked.
“Maybe it’s the gym or the atmosphere, the way it looked, I don’t know,” Seybert said of playing at the throwback Vanlue gymnasium. “But we fought through it. Playing on a stage kind of messed with them too.”
The Wildcats took advantage of the early on. After Bucyrus scored the first points of the game on a layup by Dennison, Vanlue reeled off nine unanswered and took an 11-6 lead after one quarter.
The Redmen were a dismal two of 18 from the field in the first period and the Wildcats grabbed 15 rebounds in the frame.
“I thought we did a nice job on the boards for the most part,” first year Vanlue coach Shawn Ginnan said. “We did make free throws when we needed to. I thought Bucyrus — their guards did a real good job getting inside.”
Mara Simon had a monster night on the glass for Vanlue, pulling down a game-high 15 boards. The junior started with five in the first quarter.
Bucyrus got within 11-9 to start the second quarter before the Wildcats went on another run — this one 8-0 — to push the lead back to 19-11 midway through the frame. It was a theme for most of the first three quarters.
The Redmen whittled it back to 21-16 by halftime, but continued poor shooting kept them in a hole. Bucyrus was six of 32 from the field in the first half.
The shooting volume ramped up in the third quarter, but the Redmen only made six of 22 and the Wildcats matched that the make with six of 14. Two free throws allowed Vanlue to stretch the lead to 36-29 after three.
“Going into the fourth down (seven) — that’s a hard thing to overcome,” Seybert said. “I thought all night long we were getting looks, we were getting lanes to drive. They just weren’t going (in).”
That changed as the fourth quarter wore on. After Vanlue pushed the lead to 10, at 43-33 on a pair of free throws by Olivia Secord, the Redmen offense got into gear.
A 3-pointer and a two from Dennison and a basket and two free throws by Kemery got Bucyrus back to within 45-42.
“We were in such foul trouble that we really couldn’t adjust (defensively),” Ginnan said. “I don’t like to make excuses, but we were kind of limited with our personnel. We were already missing one starter tonight who did not dress.”
Sidney King scored to give the Wildcats a 47-42 cushion with 1:58 to go. But Dennison hit a two and a 3 to tie it at 47-47 — the only tie of the game. Secord hit the second of two free throws to give Vanlue its last lead at 48-47.
On the next possession, the Redmen got a basket from Kemery with 1:02 left, their first lead since it was 2-0. They were then able to hit three of six free throws to hang on for the win.
Closing the game out at the line was critical considering Bucyrus finished nine of 24 from the stripe.
“We shoot 40 free throws every practice and make a pretty good percentage of them,” Seybert said. “But tonight, I don’t know what it was, if it was nerves or out of rhythm. We made them at the end when we needed to.”
Secord led Vanlue with 18 points. Simon finished with 13 and Adrienne Phillips added 10.
“I thought the Secord girl — she is only a sophomore, and she had a nice preseason,” Ginnan said. “We had three scrimmages. But I’m going to tell you what, she’s fast. She went to the regional finals last year in track as a freshman.”
Dennison had a game-high 23 points to lead Bucyrus — 13 coming in the pivotal fourth quarter. Maddie Kimmel had 13 and Kemery finished with 12. Ady Rister grabbed 12 rebounds.
“Brook got it going in the second half,” Seybert said. “She was in her own head a little bit. We just got her to calm down a little bit and trust what was working for her and what she’s capable of doing, which is shot fake, drive, get in the lane and finish the short shot.”
“It was a tough loss, but we can learn from it, and I can learn from it,” Ginnan said. “The effort was good. If we get that every game, I’ll be happy.”
“We walk out of here with a win,” Seybert said. “We had to get out of our zone and go man (defense). We forced them to make a couple of decisions they weren’t comfortable doing. I thought the pressure at the end was the difference too for us.”
Bucyrus won a two-quarter junior varsity game, 21-12. Kimmy Burling had 10 points to lead the Redmen. Alison Brooks had four for Vanlue.
Box score
Bucyrus 6 10 13 23 — 52
Vanlue 11 10 15 12 — 48
Bucyrus (1-0): Shots 20-67; 3-pt. shots 3-32 (Brook Dennison 2, Madalyn Kimmel); Free throws 9-24; Rebounds 35 (Adacyn Rister 12); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Maddie Kimmel 5 2 13, Kendra Blizzard 1 0 2, Brook Dennison 9 3 23, Adacyn Rister 0 0 0, Addison Kemery 4 4 12, Marissa Middleton 1 0 2.
Vanlue (0-1): Shots 18-44; 3-pt. shots 1-9 (Mara Simon); Free throws 11-16; Rebounds 48 (Mara Simon 15); Turnovers 28. Scoring: Candace Saltzman 1 0 2, Adrienne Phillips 4 2 10, Olivia Secord 7 4 18, Sydney King 1 0 2, Mara Simon 5 2 13, Lexi Brooks 0 3 3.
JV: Bucyrus 21-12 (2 quarters).