By Dan Messerschmidt

WILLARD — Bucyrus senior Brooklyn Spears wasn’t ready for her basketball experience to end, so much so that she had a monster, career scoring night in the Lady Redmen’s sectional final showdown against Seneca East.

Spears poured in 20 points — 18 in the second half — but it was not enough. The Tigers jumped out to a nine-point first-quarter lead, then weathered two Bucyrus rallies, to win the girls’ Division III lower bracket sectional title, 62-52, at Willard High School Saturday evening.

Seneca East (18-5) earns the right to face No. 2 seed Western Reserve in the opening round of the Shelby district on Thursday at 6:15 p.m. The Lady Riders were 53-11 winner over Galion in the lower bracket championship at Willard.

“As an underclassman, you see the seniors leaving (after the last game), Spears said, wiping tears from her eyes. “When it hits you, you understand.”

Spears, whose main job has been defense and rebounding her entire four years, played outside herself offensively trying to keep it going one more game. But the Tigers would not be denied.

“We anticipated that it would be (this kind of game),” Seneca East coach Don Vogt said. “It’s hard to beat a team three times in a season.”

The teams met twice in regular-season, Northern 10 Athletic Conference play. Bucyrus (12-11) lost in Attica, 50-46, and the Tigers prevailed, 57-43, at Bucyrus.

Seneca East opened a 21-12 lead by the end of the first quarter. Marina Adachi scored seven of her eight points in the frame to lead the way for the Tigers. It was a deficit the Lady Redmen would never quite overcome.

“We were getting stops but we couldn’t convert,” Bucyrus coach Taylor Whitaker said. “We stressed looking inside in the first quarter. We just didn’t get it inside.”

The second quarter was essentially a stalemate, with the Tigers adding a point to their lead, which stood at 30-20 at halftime.

The Redmen had turned up the heat on the defensive end, shutting out Adachi, who came in averaging 14 points per game, in the second quarter and held her to one point in the second half.

“The great thing about our kids is they have bought into stepping up for other people,” Vogt said. “It was a good team effort tonight.”

To the coach’s point, freshman Jessica Bowerman scored 10 of her game-high 23 points in the third quarter to pick up the scoring slack.

Even so, Bucyrus clawed its way back, cutting the deficit to 35-30 on a basket by Shaina Orewiler with 3:52 left in the third period.

But Bowerman hit a pair of 3-pointer shots and the Tigers got the lead back to 43-34 after three.

“We tried switching defenses, from a triangle-and-two, to zone, to man-to-man, to pressing,” Whitaker said. “The girls were able to handle it well.”

However, the Redmen were not through. They whittled away behind Spears’ 12 points and got within five again, at 54-49, with 2:25 left in the game.

With time at a premium, Bucyrus was forced to foul to try to get the ball back, and the Tigers made six of eight free throws down the stretch to hold the Redmen at bay.

“That’s one thing we talked about,” Vogt said. “Basketball is a game of swings. They were going to have their push and we were going to have ours. That’s the way the game is played with two good teams.”

Spears’ 20 points and seven rebounds led Bucyrus, but her yeoman effort fell short. Izzy Burling was next with 10 points and Ni’Georia Floyd added nine.

Spears, Orewiler, Burling and Ashtyn Simms all played their last game in a Redmen uniform. Injured players Kiana Zehner and Alex Rule also saw their careers end.

Caylin Quiggle seconded Bowerman’s 23 points with 13 for the Tigers. Bonnie Bivens finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

“We plan on working with the young kids over the summer,” Whitaker said. “We have a lot of work to do. They have big shoes to fill.”

“Our approach has been to play one game at a time,” Vogt said. “We’ll scout Western Reserve starting tonight. We’ll go to Shelby and put our best foot forward.”

Bucyrus           12      8    14   18 — 52

Seneca East    21      9    13   19 — 62

Stats

Bucyrus (12-11): Shots 22-51; 3-pt. shots 5-14; Free throws 3-8; Rebounds 27 (Brooklyn Spears 7); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Ni’Georia Floyd 3 1 9, Caleigh Rister 1 0 3, Alivia Lewis 1 0 2, Izzy Burling 5 0 10, Brooklyn Spears 9 0 20, Shaina Orewiler 3 2 8.

Seneca East (18-5): Shots 20-43; 3-pt shots 3-6 (Jessica Bowerman 2, Marina Adachi); Free throws 19-25; Rebounds 30 (Bonnie Bivens 9); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Jessica Bowerman 6 9 23, Aubrey Saylors 1 6 8, Marina Adachi 3 1 8, Bonnie Bivens 4 2 10, Caylin Quiggle 6 1 13.