BUCYRUS — When it was crunch time, Bucyrus senior guard Brook Dennison stepped up her game inside Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.
Dennison scored 7 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter to enable the Lady Red to come from behind and defeat Buckeye Central 41-36 Tuesday night.
“We kicked up our energy a lot. We were lacking a lot with that and we kind of had a talk and we needed to come alive. We got that rolling and as soon as we made that first shot, it was like ‘OK, let’s go,'” Dennison said.
Dennison’s three-pointer tied the score at 31-31 with 3:33 left in the game. She added two more baskets — 7 straight points — as Bucyrus outscored Buckeye Central 15-11 in the final quarter.
It gave Bucyrus its first Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory and marked the first win over Buckeye Central since Feb. 7, 2015. The two teams came in with identical records of 3-8 overall and 0-6 in the league.
“It feels amazing. I can’t even begin … it’s a relief off our shoulders. It’s awesome,” Dennison said. “I’ve loved it since last year when I came here. This team — I give all the credit to them. They really support each other, and I love that with everything in me.”
Dennison added 5 rebounds, an assist, 3 steals and a block.
“It all starts with her, and Addison is effective too. But it’s got to start with Brook. At that point she had 4 fouls and she’s got to be cautious at what she’s doing on the defensive side. She likes to get a little handsy at times,” Bucyrus head coach Brian Seybert said. “She did what she needed to do to stay in the game and affected the game at the end with that 7-0 run.”
Teammate Addison Kemery led the way with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and one blocked shot.
“Addie came out was shooting well in warm-ups and this is the best I’ve seen her play all year long. She needed it because she was struggling. She got sick at the beginning of the N10 season, and it carried on for two games. It gives her confidence,” Seybert said.
“On the defensive side you got Addy Ricker and Kendra Blizzard playing their tails off.”
Buckeye led 8-7 after a quarter, but Bucyrus took a 19-18 halftime lead as Kemery netted 8 of her team’s 12 points in the second period.
“Brook is really good and so is Kemery. Those are tough matchups for us,” Buckeye Central head coach Phil Loy said. “Both of them played a great game tonight.”
Nevaeh Metzger tallied 13 as the lone double-digit scorer for the Buckettes. She added 2 rebounds and 3 steals.
“We had a 5-point lead in the fourth quarter, and we can’t score, or it’s a turnover, it’s a turnover, it’s a turnover,” he said. “I told the girls we need less than 14 turnovers in order for us to win.”
BC committed 22 turnovers.
Grace Collene hit a shot to put Buckeye Central on top 31-26 before Bucyrus took over.
Loy said this was a battle of two equally matched teams.
“These two teams are very comparable. You look at stats, shooting percentages, size, matchups. Very comparable. So, we have to play a solid game to win this. We can’t play sloppy, can’t take bad shots, can’t turn it over,” he said.
The Buckettes went 4 and 1/2 minutes without a point to open the second half before Ella Evak hit a basket. Evak finished with 8 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
Seybert is hopeful the win serves as a springboard for the second half of the season.
“Credit to the seniors. It was a good team win. I thought it started Friday night at Carey. We worked that week with pure toughness drills because you have to be. It’s a hard league to play in. If you’re not going to be tough, you’re going to get pushed around and not win many games,” he said.
Bucyrus visits Seneca East on Saturday, while Wynford hosts Buckeye Central.
“We had a lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter up at Carey. That was the toughest we played all year long. Tonight I thought we were four quarters tough, four quarters locked in and that’s a credit to the girls for buying in to what we’re trying to do right now,” Seybert said.
Loy said his squad needs to cut down on mistakes and find a way to win.
“It’s tough on the girls, but we’ve got to get better. It’s the same old song and dance every week. My post-game speech is you got to take care of the ball.”
Buckeye Central hit 6-of-18 from three-point range.
“We shot it decent early. That wasn’t our goal. I want us to have more balance. We’re one pass and you gotta shoot it. I want us to be more balanced to where we’re attacking. That means everyone’s got to want the basketball,” Loy said.
Macy Deppen came off the BC bench and provided 3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
Marissa Middleton added 9 points for Bucyrus to go along with 4 caroms, an assist, and a steal.
Box score
Buckeye Central 8 10 7 11 — 36
Bucyrus 7 12 7 15 — 41
Buckeye Central (3-9, 0-7 N10): Shots 12-46; 3-pt. shots 6-18 (Nevaeh Metzger 3, Mara McDougal, Ella Collene, Ella Evak); Free throws 6-14; Rebounds 32 (Ella Evak 12); Turnovers 22. Scoring: Mara McDougal 1 1 4, Grace Collene 1 0 2, Ella Evak 3 1 8, Nevaeh Metzger 5 0 13, Ella Collene 1 1 4, Aleyse Siefert 1 0 2, Macy Deppen 0 3 3.
Bucyrus (4-8, 1-6 N10): Shots 17-40; 3-pt. shots 4-11 (Addison Kemery 2, Brook Dennison, Marissa Middleton); Free throws 3-9; Rebounds 23 (Addison Kemery 6); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Addison Ricker 1 0 2, Brook Dennison 6 0 13, Addison Kemery 6 1 15, Marissa Middleton 3 2 9, Malina Rowland 1 0 2.
JV: Mansfield Madison 38-19.