HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Lynae McKibben is known for her toughness and defense.
But the Colonel Crawford senior scored 11 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in helping spark the Lady Eagles to a 39-27 Northern 10 Athletic Conference girls basketball win Saturday night.
“I knew my teammates had my back. So, if I made a mistake, I wasn’t worried about it. Go get a stop on defense or try and get an offensive bucket,” McKibben said.
McKibben scored 7 of her points in the third quarter and added 4 in the fourth quarter. She came in averaging 4.1 points per game.
“I think that we were all very calm tonight. We practiced for today,” McKibben said. “The whole week we were focused on this game and that’s what happens when you’re ready.”
The 5-6 forward got help from juniors Mira Holt with 11 points, 7 boards and a pair of steals and Gabby Roston with 6 markers, 3 rebounds and a steal.
“I’m a big defensive player for our team and that’s kind of my role. But my role this year, after facing a little bit of adversity, has been to try and score more baskets,” she said.
Colonel Crawford (17-4, 10-3) fell behind 7-3 after one quarter inside Dr. Michael A. Johnson Gymnasium. But the Lady Eagles rallied to tie the contest at 14 at halftime.
Lady Eagles head coach Zac Bauer said his team has become tougher after having dropped 3 straight games.
“In games past when we get down like that our eyes kind of get wide. But the adversity we’ve gone through the past few games has kind of calloused us over. Our eyes weren’t wide.”
Holt made a pair of free throws that tied the game at 10-10 after Crawford fell behind 10-3 early in the second quarter. The defense then held the Lady Royals to 13 second-half points.
“We called time out and we sit ’em down and I didn’t have to say a word,” Bauer said. “The girls in there — Lynae, Mira, Allison, Gab, Lexi Duré even — were lifting each other up and they talked about how we need to adjust to counter that,” Bauer said.
“Lynae gives us consistency in and out, and that’s greatness. You show up every day and you do the work. I told her at the beginning of the season, when she and I sat down that ‘this is your team. You’re the heart and soul of our team. You give us great effort on both ends.’
“And tonight, she was so fundamental between the blocks, finishing making layups and defensively just being the engine of our team, and you can’t undervalue that.”
Wynford (12-8, 5-8) had only 3 players score, led by Caroline Sheldon’s 11. Brooke Frombaugh added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Zoe Whitmeyer had 6.
Wynford head coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon said it was no surprise the problems Crawford presented.
“We know you’re going to play against absolutely the best defense. We didn’t handle pressure like we probably could have. We called a couple timeouts to settle them down early. They did a great job switching, great job pressuring the ball and taking away what we wanted to run,” she said.
Wynford hit on just 9-of-33 field goal attempts (27%). Colonel Crawford was 10-of-27 (37%).
Crawford led 25-22 after three quarters. But McKibben’s rebound and basket and one from Holt pushed the lead to 35-24.
The losing streak galvanized the Lady Eagles.
“It’s been tough. What we stressed this week was that if you trust the process, then good things can still happen,” Bauer said. “If you wallow in the adversity good things can’t happen. But if we trust each other and get back to our core values of what’s important to us and why we play basketball together, then you’ll see results.”
The Lady Eagles committed 10 turnovers and forced Wynford into 11 miscues.
“I thought their pressure and communication defensively was outstanding,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “They did an outstanding job of not necessarily controlling the tempo, but they were only going to give you X, Y, and Z and we didn’t want X, Y, and Z.”
She also praised the tenacity of McKibben.
“Ultimately you had a senior in Lynae McKibben, who I think felt like you’re not going to beat me today. With that leadership, and just ripping the ball away from people, finishing at the basket and making her free throws (4-of-4), I thought that was a big difference.
“We had the inability to score and went for a long stretch and didn’t. They were 17-of-20 from the foul line. We didn’t get to the foul line. They have a great team, well-coached and physically aggressive,” she said.
Wynford travels to Plymouth on Tuesday and then finishes league play at Seneca East on Friday.
“We want to finish the season strong and get ready for the second season,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “We’ve just got to find a way to have some composure and are working hard to do that.”
The Lady Eagles host Mohawk (11-8, 7-5) next Saturday.
Bauer said the week of rest is welcome.
“We get a couple days off. If there’s one thing I know about this team is they’re going to give us everything they have all week to be ready and put ourselves in a position to win a championship. Mohawk’s not going to make it easy on us. They’re playing really well,” he said.
Box score
Colonel Crawford 39, Wynford 27
Colonel Crawford 3 11 11 14 — 39
Wynford 7 7 8 5 — 27
Colonel Crawford (17-4, 10-3 N10): Shots 10-27; 3-pt. shots 2-14 (Lynae McKibben, Allison Weithman); Free throws 17-20; Rebounds 21 (Mira Holt 7); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Gabby Roston 1 4 6, Mira Holt 2 7 11, Allison Weithman 2 0 5, Robin Ehman 2 0 4, Lexi Dure 0 2 2, Lynae McKibben 3 4 11.
Wynford (12-8, 5-8 N10): Shots 9-33; 3-pt. shots 3-10 (Caroline Sheldon 3); Free throws 6-8; Rebounds 23 (Brook Frombaugh 10); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Caroline Sheldon 4 0 11, Zoe Whitmeyer 3 0 6, Brook Frombaugh 2 6 10.
JV: Colonel Crawford 18-17.