NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — Bucyrus faced the specter of meeting a team that had beaten them by a combined 129-19.
Colonel Crawford entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed with sights on district finals and beyond.
The Eagles didn’t disappoint their fans as they defeated the young Lady Red comfortably, 49-17, to win the Division VI sectional final.
Colonel Crawford (21-2) advances to play No. 3 Ashland Crestview (13-9) at Shelby in the district semifinal.
The deep and experienced Eagles got off to their prototypical fast start racing out to a 21-0 lead before Bucyrus (1-22) scored the last two points of the first quarter on a basket by Savannah Clark.
“We had the opportunity to play in a couple of (league) championship games the last couple of weeks, against Carey and Seneca East,” Colonel Crawford coach Zac Bauer said. “In some of those moments, I thought we were a little passive. Tonight was about being assertive and seize the opportunity. I was glad to see us assert ourselves tonight and take the opportunity.”
The coach couldn’t have asked for a better start. The Eagles hit eight of 17 shots in the first period — including four 3-pointers — for business as usual. Freshman Reese Redman came off the bench to hit a pair of treys, while Saylor Holt and Lila Plesac had one each. The Lady Red were one of seven.
But from there, the game took a decided turn. Bucyrus dialed up its defense and did not get rattled by the Eagles’ pressure. The result in the second quarter was a slight 6-4 advantage for Colonel Crawford and a 27-6 halftime lead.
“These girls showed a ton of grit tonight,” Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said. “They did everything we asked them to do in preparing for this game. We threw a bunch of new stuff in, and they executed it in a matter of three days of practice. Everything we worked on they did tonight and it helped them out.”
The Eagles were able to pad their lead a little in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Red, 10-4 to go up 37-10, putting the outcome well in hand.
But Bauer agreed with the difference in Bucyrus compared to the previous contests.
“That’s a credit to the job coach Seybert does. He’s a student of the game,” Bauer said. “He coaches his team really well. The young group, they adjusted really well. That’s a testament to his preparation — knowing what’s coming and finding a way to negate that.”
Colonel Crawford got it to a running clock at 6:07 of the fourth quarter, at 45-10, on a basket by Emmi Powers. But largest difference was 37, far below the 50-60 of the first two games.
“The goal was to force them to shoot outside shots,” Seybert said. “They came out and hit a bunch early on and we didn’t make ours. We got shots in the first quarter, and the shots were in the paint, something different that we’ve been doing all year.”
Even though the Eagles shooting fell off to an uncharacteristic 32% after the first quarter, they made it up in volume, attempting 55 shots to just 31 for the Lady Red. One glaring reason was a 42-21 advantage on the glass, including 19-5 on the offensive end.
“I thought we were a little complacent and shot too many 3s after we got hot (early),” Bauer said. “One of the focal points later in the game was can we be patient enough and play with good enough pace to get some good looks. And can we turn defense into some offensive scores? The first two baskets of the game were layups. After that, it was a 3-point fest. We’ve got to rein that back in.”
After a four for nine start from 3 in the first quarter, Colonel Crawford was three for 13 the rest of the way. But the early bulge and volume shooting never allowed the Lady Red to get back in the game.
Powers led all scorers with 18 points and added 11 rebounds. Holt finished with 10 points and Robin Ehmann grabbed 10 boards.
“We were happy with 27-6 at halftime,” Seybert said. “It gives us a great opportunity in the second half to chip away and give ourselves a chance to win it.”
But Bucyrus just never got the offensive moving, shooting just 19 percent on six of 31 from the field. Clark topped the Lady Red with six points and Ni’Cia Floyd had 10 rebounds. The Lady Red committed only 12 turnovers.
“You have to give a lot of credit, not only to Emmi and Robin, but Saylor Holt has done a nice job of rebounding the ball from the perimeter,” Bauer said. “She goes to the glass and just gets the ball off the rim. You can say the same thing about Lexi (Dure). And that alleviates a lot of pressure off Emmi and Robin.”
The lone senior on the Bucyrus roster, Karlee Shull, played her last game in a Lady Red uniform. Shull closed out her career with four points. Seybert said the underclassmen will miss her leadership.
“I was proud of Karlee and her effort today,” Seybert said. “I was proud of all the girls that played all year long. This is something we can build on for the future.
“We gave (Crawford) everything we could give them,” he added. “That’s a really good team and they’re going to do some good things here in the tournament.”
Seybert expressed optimism for the future of the program.
“Everybody’s back and we bring in a really good, solid class,” Seybert said. “Those girls aren’t used to losing. We’re going to mesh them together and build off that.”
Bauer anticipates an up-tempo game with Crestview in the district.
“It’s a 94-foot game. They play a lot of on-ball pressure,” Bauer said. “They pressure the passing lanes really well. That’s a good defensive metric.”
Box score
Bucyrus 2 4 4 7 — 17
Colonel Crawford 21 6 10 12 — 49
Bucyrus (1-22): Shots 6-31; 3-pt. shots 0-5; Free throws 5-8; Rebounds 21 (Ni’Cia Floyd 10); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Ni’Cia Floyd 1 1 3, Karlee Shull 2 0 4, Tori Stang 1 0 2, Lillyan Butchko 0 2 2, Savannah Clark 2 2 6.
Colonel Crawford (21-2): Shots 20-55; 3-pt. shots 7-22 (Reese Redman 3, Saylor Holt, Lila Plesac, Emmi Powers, Claire Smith); Free throws 2-6; Rebounds 42 (Emmi Powers 11, Robin Ehmann 10); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Saylor Holt 4 1 10, Lila Plesac 1 0 3, Emmi Powers 8 1 18, Adalyn Bond 1 0 2, Claire Smith 1 0 3, Robin Ehmann 2 0 4, Reese Redman 3 0 9.