OLD FORT — With the daunting task of facing undefeated and No.2 seeded Hopewell-Loudon, Bucyrus coach Taylor Tackett could ill afford to have anyone from her already-depleted roster missing.
Unfortunately, that is just what happened. Junior guard and leading scorer Caleigh Rister had the flu and was unable to suit up, making a bad situation worse.
The Lady Chieftains went about their business of advancing to the sectional final on Saturday. Guards Kaia Woods and Olivia Zender combined for 46 points — most in the first half — as Hopewell-Loudon ran away from the Lady Redmen, 66-10, in the Division III sectional semifinal at Old Fort High School.
The Chieftains were also missing a key player — post Makayla Elmore — but the uninitiated would never have noticed.
“We have the advantage of having the two guards that we have, and they’ve been a mismatch for a lot of people all year,” Hopewell-Loudon coach Bob Gase said. “It’s just starting and getting some continuity with the girls we have in there now (without Elmore) that’s going to take a little bit of time.”
It was the Chieftains’ defense — albeit mostly half-court trap pressure — that fueled the early offensive onslaught. Bucyrus committed 11 first-quarter turnovers and 19 in the first half.
“They have some very nice players,” Tackett said. “They’re juniors too. Every girl we had (tonight) had no varsity experience (coming into the season). And tournament is a whole different time.”
Hopewell-Loudon (23-0) scored the first 18 points of the game, all by the two explosive guards, Woods and Zender. In that time, the Redmen missed their first six shots.
The Chieftains led 22-3 after one period and 45-8 at halftime.
“We’ve done that all year,” Gase said, speaking of not necessarily needing to employ full-court defensive pressure to force turnovers. “Whatever works the best for them. We try to put them in the best situation we can so that they can play the way they like to play.”
Karmyn Blizzard did manage to hit a pair of 3-point shots in the first half but the Redmen hit just two of 16 shots in the first half and three of 42 for the game, many of which were contested.
“We were getting (shots),” Tackett said. “They jus weren’t our typical, on-balance, easy-going shots. We had to work for them a little bit mor and I think that threw us off a little bit.”
The second half featured a running clock — stopped only for timeouts, injuries and quarter breaks — enacted when the lead reaches 30 points.
Bucyrus (1-22) was scoreless in the third period which allowed Hopewell-Loudon to stretch the lead to 58-8 and the subs played much of the fourth quarter to set the final score.
“What I saw of (Rister, on film), she does a nice job of going to the basket,” Gase said. “That’s a big hole to fill for somebody.”
Blizzard’s two 3s for six points led the Redmen. Sierra Frost had the other basket and Maddie Kimmel added two free throws to account for Bucyrus’ scoring. Taylor Myers grabbed nine rebounds.
Zender had 26 points — including five 3s — and Woods had 20. Morgan Searles hit four 3s for her 12 points and Woods had five rebounds.
“After the first quarter, we kind of switched up a little bi and decided to play ball tonight,” Tackett said.
“People shooting 3s against us (have hit) only 14.5 percent, so we don’t like giving up 3s,” Gase said. “They hit a couple tonight and we kind of talked about that at halftime.”
“With Caleigh out, we had girls handling the ball that aren’t used to handling the ball as much,” Tackett said. “Everything’s just a little bit different when you’re missing one person, whether it’s your post, your point guard or even a girl who cheers from the bench. It’s just different when someone’s sitting out that is typically there.”
The Redmen’s season ends and Tackett says goodbye to seniors Skylene Alvarez, Taylor Patterson and Myers.
Hopewell-Loudon moves on to play No. 11 seed Lakota in the sectional final back at Old Fort Saturday night at 6:15 p.m.
Box score
Division III sectional semifinal
at Old Fort
Bucyrus 3 5 0 2 — 10
Hopewell-Loudon 22 23 13 8 — 66
Bucyrus (1-22): Shots 3-42; 3-pt. shots 2-13 (Karmyn Blizzard 2); Free throws 2-2; Rebounds 33 (Taylor Myers 9); Turnovers 28. Scoring: Karmyn Blizzard 2 0 6, Maddie Kimmel 0 2 2, Sierra Frost 1 0 2.
Hopewell-Loudon (23-0): Shots 24-42; 3-pt. shots 9-15 (Olivia Zender 5, Morgan Searles 4); Free throws 9-17; Rebounds 26 (Kaia Woods 5); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Kaia Woods 6 8 20, Olivia Zender 10 1 26, Morgan Searles 4 0 12, Hope Kreais 2 0 4, Lenna Fox 1 0 2 Makenzie Coleman 1 0 2.