By Dan Messerschmidt

BUCYRUS — Bucyrus simply ran out of gas against Riverdale Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Redmen played Friday night, a physical Northern 10 Conference game against Colonel Crawford. Then, they entertained the Falcons less than 24 hours later.

Add in a bench shortened by injuries and you have the recipe for a 54-49 loss at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.

“We weren’t making good passes and we struggled with the press, which we haven’t done all year,” Bucyrus coach Taylor Whitaker said. “We got tired.”

The Lady Redmen seemed to handle the adversity early on, jumping out to a 17-9 after one quarter. Shaina Orewiler led the way, scoring seven of her game-high 21 points in the frame.

“We’re notorious for starting out slow,” Riverdale coach Emily Reynolds. “The pressure got us some turnovers and it gave the girls confidence.”

The teams played to a dead heat in the second quarter — each registering 10 points — allowing Bucyrus (6-2) to maintain its seemingly safe lead, 27-19.

But the third quarter revealed some of the chinks in the armor and the Falcons took advantage.

The Redmen turned the ball over on their first five possessions of the second half and Riverdale (6-5) capitalized by scoring the first 10 points of the quarter to grab a 29-27 lead, the Falcons’ first of the game.

Bucyrus stopped the bleeding temporarily to retake the lead on four free throws, two each by Ni’Georia Floyd and Alivia Lewis, but Riverdale used a 5-2 run to regain a 34-33 lead by period’s end.

The Falcons started the fourth quarter on a 12-3 run to open a 46-36 lead with 4:14 left in the game and it appeared they had the game in hand.

However, the Redmen did not fold. Bucyrus used a 13-2 run of its own to regain the lead, 49-48, with 1:01 to go, on a three-point play by Floyd.

“We stuck with it,” Whitaker said. “When we got that ‘and one’, I thought we were on our way.”

“That all happened really quick,” Reynolds said. “But we came back and scored right away. It showed the girls had confidence.”

The Redmen missed their last three shots in the final minute and the Falcons eased out to the 54-49 final score.

Floyd seconded Orewiler’s 21 points with 11 of her own and Lewis added 10 for Bucyrus. Brooklyn Spears grabbed 10 rebounds.

Riverdale got 18 points from Lexie Wright, 17 from and Reygan Frey and Brooke Kuenzli added 10. Wright pulled down nine boards for the Falcons.

“I knew it would be a good game,” Whitaker said. “It was a game we should have been able to win.”

“We wanted to get out and go,” Reynolds said. “In the second half, we played harder.”

Riverdale       9    10    15   20 — 54

Bucyrus       17    10      6    16 — 49

Stats

Riverdale (6-5): Shots 22-56; 3-pt shots 1-10 (Reygan Frey); Free throws 9-20; Rebounds 34 (Lexie Wright 9); Turnovers 18. Scoring: Brooke Kuenzli 3 4 10, Lexie Wright 8 2 18, Gabi Rodriguez 1 1 3, Reygan 7 2 17, Tayler Ashburn 1 0 2, Bry Vander Bosch 2 0 4.

Bucyrus (6-2): Shots 16-42; 3-pt. shots 4-8 (Alivia Lewis, Ni’Georia Floyd, Shaina Orewiler); Free throws 13-21; Rebounds 35 (Brooklyn Spears 10); Turnovers 27. Scoring: Ni’Georia Floyd 3 4 11, Alivia Lewis 2 4 10, Izzy Burling 1 0 2, Brooklyn Spears 2 1 5, Shaina Orewiler 8 4 21.

JV: Riverdale 51-11.