BUCYRUS (Crawford County Now) — Two county rivals that have been struggling in recent years met on Phil A. Joseph Court at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium Tuesday.

Galion showed signs that its program is recovering. The Lady Tigers lit up the scoreboard, shooting 42%, including 53% from 3-point range, to defeat Bucyrus, 66-45.

“We shot the ball well tonight, which always helps,” Galion coach Jim Hart said. “Shooting that well to start any game, I’ll take that. It was nice to see.”

Bucyrus (1-20) got off to another slow start and could never put a dent in that early deficit despite putting 45 points on the board. The Tigers jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the first quarter.

“We just could never cut it down,” Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert said. “We got two points right in the last few seconds of the first quarter. We averaged 13-14 points the remainder of the three quarters. If we could just do that in the first quarter.”

Galion (7-14) came out firing, hitting five of six 3-point attempts in the first half. The seven wins are the most by the Tigers in 13 years.

Hart believes commitment to the program is helping his team turn the corner.

“It’s just as difference of the girls buying into what we’re doing and putting the time and effort in,” Hart said. “In the offseason, we had a pretty good summer last summer and it’s starting to show.”

Seybert saw some good things from his young team even in a loss.

“Energy-wise, I thought the second half was way better than the first half,” Seybert said. “We looked to get to the rim more, got some fouls, got to the free throw line. We just never could get enough stops in a row to keep them from scoring. Credit to them, they shot lights out.”

Turnovers again plagued the Lady Red, committing 24 to just nine for Galion. That produced 14 more shot attempts for the red-hot Tigers.

“We get a lot more possessions that way,” Hart said. “I think we had 3 (turnovers) at halftime. Our goal is always 12 or under for a game.”

“It’s just a double-edged sword when you do that,” Seybert said. “You turn it over and they come down and score, you just lost four points on one possession, or five, depending on what it was.”

Galion had balanced scoring with four players in double figures. Kayla Halbisen led the way with a game-high 17 points. Her sister, Kenzie, finished with 14 on the strength of four 3s, while Claire Tackett and Maryssa Scott added 10. Tackett grabbed eight rebounds.

“We’ve got some kids who can shoot the ball,” Hart said. “We got some opportunities. We finally saw some all tonight, it’s like a domino effect.”

“We had to get out of the zone and go man,” Seybert said. “We had to force some things. We’re not a real good man defensive team right now because we live in a zone most of the time.”

Freshman Ni’Cia Floyd led the Lady Red with 15 points and Savannah Clark ended with14 — 13 I the second half. Clark also pulled down eight boards.

“Every single one who played tonight gave everything they had the entire time,” Seybert said. “I thought Savannah had one of her best games of the year. She was very, very aggressive in the second half.”

Both teams will have the majority of the roster returning next year. Bucyrus loses senior Karlee Shull and Galion says goodbye to Elliot Freyman and Bella Ruiz.

“Our bench players came off and sparked us a little bit,” Hart said. “Once they came off the bench, we kind of got rolling and kind of helped the team get going.

“We’re real young,” Hart added. “We’re playing six juniors, a sophomore, and a freshman. So, the future is bright for us.”

The Lady Red are even younger, with just one junior, four sophomores, and five freshman. But all gained valuable varsity experience.

“I was happy with our defensive effort in the second half,” Seybert said. “I just wish we got more stops.”

Bucyrus won the two-quarter junior varsity game, 22-9.

Box score

Galion       14     16     21    15 — 66

Bucyrus      2     12     15    16 — 45

Galion (7-14): Shots 22-52; 3-pt. shots 8-15 (Kenzie Halbisen 4, Kayla Halbisen 2, Claire Tackett 2); Free throws 14-23; Rebounds 29 (Claire Tackett 8); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Kayla Halbisen 6 3 17, Claire Tackett 2 4 10, Kenzie Halbisen 5 0 14, Izzy Bowman 3 3 9, Jayda Miniard 1 0 2, Maryssa Scott 3 4 10, Lilly Hall 1 0 2, Katelyn Carr 1 0 2.

Bucyrus (1-20): Shots 17-38; 3-pt. shots 1-10 (Ni’Cia Floyd); Free throws 10-13; Rebounds 31 (Savannah Clark 8); Turnovers 24. Scoring: Ni’Cia Floyd 7 0 15, Macie Hubble 0 4 4, Maci Messerschmidt 1 0 2, Tori Stang 2 0 4, Lillyan Butchko 2 2 6, Savannah Clark 5 4 14.

JV: Bucyrus 22-9 (2 quarters).