BUCYRUS — There was no net cutting, no confetti flying or fans storming the court, but the Bucyrus Lady Redmen were no less celebratory.
The Streak was over.
Bucyrus broke a 34-game losing streak with a 50-42 Northern 10 Athletic Conference win over Mohawk at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium Friday night.
“It was wonderful to finally get a win under our belt this many games in,” an excited but relieved Bucyrus coach Taylor Tackett said. “It’s just a really great feeling.”
The Redmen grabbed the early lead and never trailed in the contest. The win avenged a 60-24 loss to the Warriors in their first meeting in December.
Junior Caleigh Rister led the charge, scoring nine of her game-high 20 points in the first quarter as Bucyrus (1-15, 1-11 N10) eased out to a 15-7 advantage after one.
The 20 points marked a career high for Rister, and it came at an opportune time for the Redmen.
“It was intense, but we were prepared, we were ready,” Rister said. “All week long we practiced, we knew this was a very winnable game.”
The Warriors were never far away, but neither could they ever catch the Redmen or take the lead.
After Bucyrus built its biggest lead of the night, 19-7, on a 3-point shot by Karmyn Blizzard and a free throw by Rister, Mohawk (3-14, 1-11) whittled away at the deficit to get back to within 24-20 by halftime.
Kennedy Cleveland registered nine of her team-high 14 points in the first two quarters to help the Warriors stay in the game.
One improvement the Redmen made was limiting turnovers, committing only three in the first half and ending the game with 10.
“We’ve really been stressing (taking care of the ball), especially looking back at the film of the first time we played them,” Tackett said. “We just made some silly passes, didn’t look like our heads were in the game. That was our main focus. We came out tonight, stepped up and did what we needed to do.”
Mohawk was able to trim one point off the Bucyrus advantage in the third quarter, pulling within 36-33 by period’s end. But that was as close as the Warriors could get.
“With how things have been going for us, that’s almost like a defeating point,” Tackett said of the effects of potentially losing the lead. “So, the fact that we got the lead up there and kept it, that really helped us in the long run.”
The Redmen only had one field goal in the fourth quarter — a 3 by Blizzard — but that was enough as they connected on 11 of 16 free throws to hold on for the win. Bucyrus hit 18 of 28 free throws for the game.
Blizzard finished with 13 points for the Redmen in support of Rister’s career night and Taisha Spears had eight, including four of four from the free throw line. Taylor Myers had nine rebounds.
Paityn Clouse had 10 points whopping 21 rebounds for the Warriors to go with Cleveland’s 10 points. Aubrie Harper finished with nine points.
“We had a couple girls in double digits. It’s nice to have a full team effort,” Rister said. “Even the girls on the bench — maybe they might not have seen as much playing time as the other girls — contributed. They were there. They were supporting us through every timeout.
“We knew we had to come out ready,” Rister added. “Usually, the first and second quarter — we come out the first half ready to go. We knew we had to keep it the second half.”
“I told the girls to control the game. When it gets out of control, they are the ones that are in control of it,” Tackett said. “I can call timeouts and slow us down, but they can slow it down themselves. I think they’re finally staring to learn that as basketball players.”
The Redmen travel to county rival Colonel Crawford on Tuesday.
“”It gives us a lot of energy going into Crawford at Crawford,” Tackett said. “It’s a nice gym to play in. It’s always packed in there with a rowdy crowd.”
Mohawk 7 13 13 9 — 42
Bucyrus 15 9 12 14 — 50
Box score
Mohawk (3-14, 1-11 N10): Shots 18-60; 3-pt. shots 1-15 (Aubrie Harper); Free throws 5-16; Rebounds 51 (Paityn Clouse 21); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Lily Hammer 1 1 3, Kennedy Cleveland 5 4 14, Emma Thiery 3 0 6, Paityn Clouse 5 0 10, Aubrie Harper 4 0 9.
Bucyrus (1-15, 1-11 N10): Shots 14-52; 3-pt. shots 4-13 (Karmyn Blizzard 3, Caleigh Rister); Free throws 18-28; Rebounds 36 (Taylor Myers 9); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Caleigh Rister 4 11 20, Taisha Spears 2 4 8, Karmyn Blizzard 5 0 13, Maddie Kimmel 1 1 3, Sierra Frost 1 0 2, Taylor Myers 1 2 4.