SYCAMORE — The Bucyrus Lady Red faced a tall task in their visit to Mohawk — literally.
The Lady Warriors feature 6-foot-3 Emily Klopp, one of the premier post players in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.
Klopp’s dominance was on full display. The senior scored her team’s first seven points and 15 of 18 in the first quarter as Mohawk cruised to a 57-28 win.
“It’s kind of like the elephant in the room. They didn’t have size to match up with her,” Mohawk coach Bruce Hannam understated.
While Klopp only scored seven more points over the next three quarters to finish with a game-high 22, her presence opened opportunities for her teammates to score, which they took advantage of.
“They shot well,” Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said. “They shot lights out. They’re home, they’re comfortable. So, credit to their gameplan and the way they executed it. They’re confident shooting and they knock them down.”
After hitting just one of nine shots in the first quarter, Bucyrus (3-1, 0-1 N10) got going a little in the second period. The Lady Red got three points each from Brook Dennison and Marissa Middleton — of their nine total, to trail, 32-12 at halftime.
Still, Bucyrus hit only four of 20 shots in the half, a theme for the night for the Redmen. The poor shooting was attributable, at least in part, to Mohawk’s size.
“It was, but I still thought we had good looks,” Seybert said. “We had open looks that we were shooting from 3(-point range). We were two of 17, is what we had. Any night we can knock those down, we can make a good percentage of those. But tonight, it wasn’t.”
Eight Warriors scored in support of Klopp’s’ efforts. Bailey Sheets finished with 10 points and Joleigh Hamilton added eight.
“Emily scored the first six, eight, maybe 10 points of the game,” Hannam said. “Then we can just come out and attack and attack. And if we don’t play out over our skis, if we don’t play too fast, we’re going to be hard to stop.”
Bucyrus cut into the deficit in the third quarter with a 13-11 advantage to trail 43-25 after three periods. Addison Kemery scored nine of her 10 points in the frame. But a one of 10 shooting effort in the fourth quarter from the Redmen combing with five of eight for the Warriors allowed for the final difference of 29 points.
Dennison and Kemery topped Bucyrus with 10 points and Addison Ricker had seven rebounds.
“We wanted to go right at Emily and try to get her in foul trouble,” Seybert said. “We got her there a few times, but we just couldn’t finish on the back end. We got layup attempts in there, but they just rolled out.”
Klopp also had 10 rebounds. Mohawk hit 22 of 45 shots, including six of 11 from 3. Hamilton and Josie Granata had two each from long range.
“We talk about trying to start inside out,” Hannam said. “We don’t always do it. Everybody is fascinated with shooting 3s. In every level down, up to the NBA and WNBA. But I always feel, if we start inside with our physicality — and if we didn’t have that kind of size, it might be a different story. We might come out and let it rip from the outside.”
“They’re a physical team and we knew that,” Seybert said. “But that’s the style they play, and I don’t blame them. I told my girls I’m proud of their heart, their desire, and their fight. They never backed down.”
“We’ve got Buckeye (Central) coming up Tuesday,” Hannam said. “We’ve had that circled on our calendar for quite some time and that will be a true test of where we are.”
Mohawk also won the junior varsity game, 28-6.
Box scores
Bucyrus 3 9 13 3 — 28
Mohawk 18 14 11 14 — 57
Bucyrus (3-1, 0-1 N10): Shots 10-43; 3-pt. shots 2-18 (Brook Dennison, Addison Kemery); Free throws 6-15; Rebounds 25 (Addison Ricker 7); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Maddie Kimmel 1 1 3, Brook Dennison 4 1 10, Addison Kemery 4 1 10, Marissa Middleton 1 3 5.
Mohawk (3-0, 1-0 N10): Shots 22-45; 3-pt. shots 6-11 (Josie Granata 2, Joleigh Hamilton 2, A.J. Chevalier, Bailey Sheets); Free throws 7-15; Rebounds 39 (Emily Klopp 10); Turnovers 21. Scoring: Josie Granata 2 1 7, A.J. Chevalier 2 0 5, Brooklen Helton 1 0 2, Bailey Sheets 3 3 10, Emily Klopp 10 2 22, Mia Miller 1 1 3, Joleigh Hamilton 3 0 8.
JV: Mohawk 28-6.