BUCYRUS — Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert knew his Lady Redmen faced a mismatch against Upper Sandusky’s bigger post players, Velourea Stowers and Kaidance Iles.

So, Seybert designed a game plan to neutralize the Lady Rams’ bigs and it worked as he envisioned, even getting them into foul trouble.

There was one flaw — Upper Sandusky’s depth. Nine different Rams scored led by guard Grace Walton’s 17 points as Upper Sandusky pulled away from the Lady Red, 55-29, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game at Alex Kish Memorial Gymnasium.

The Rams remain one game behind Buckeye Central in the N10 race.

Bucyrus (5-10, 2-9 N10) kept it reasonably close early, trailing by eight (19-11) after one quarter and 27-16 at halftime. The hosts even pulled within 32-24 midway through the third quarter on a basket by Addy Rister.

“We came out a little bit sluggish in the halfcourt defense,” Upper Sandusky coach Jerry Vent said. “They were getting down our lane a little bit. The (Brook) Dennison girl got down in our paint area. Anytime that happens, it puts pressure on your rotations.”

And while defensively the Redmen had kept Iles and Stowers in check, Walton took advantage, especially in the first half where the sophomore scored 14 of her 17 points — 11 in the first quarter.

“She can knock it down,” Seybert said. “She’s shown that in the past. It’s not one of the first things she looks for. She’s looking to drive, penetrate, see what she can get, and kick it out. I guess I give that up as opposed to giving Iles 12 or 14 and letting her get on a run.”

Upper Sandusky (13-4, 9-2) began to pull away late in the third quarter, holding Bucyrus scoreless over the last four minutes of the frame to expand the lead to 38-24 by period’s end.

“There with about four minutes left in the third quarter, we got it up to 12 or 14 and that’s where I said let’s get it out and make them extend,” Vent said. “And when they had to extend, they couldn’t guard us one-on-one and we did a good job of getting in the paint and kicking it out.”

From there, the Rams outscored the Redmen, 17-5, in the fourth quarter to balloon the final differential to 26 points. Bucyrus also went ice cold from the field in the period, hitting just one of 11 shots.

“It didn’t seem like a 26-point spread,” Seybert said. “It just came down to them making more shots than we did. It’s been our Achilles’ heel all year.”

Bucyrus finished hitting just 10 of 38 shots. Upper Sandusky was a very efficient 21 of 41.

“Credit to our bench for coming in and giving us a boost and doing some things we needed them to do to get us through that foul trouble,” Vent said.

Addy Newman scored nine in support of Walton’s 17 for the Rams and Leah Kinley added eight. Stowers grabbed seven rebounds.

Dennison and Rister had eight points each for the Redmen and Marissa Middleton finished with seven. Maddie Kimmel had six points and seven rebounds.

“Effort-wise from the girls, I thought it was there the whole game,” Seybert said. “I’m proud of them. They worked the game plan. We concentrated on a few things. We just didn’t make enough shots.”

“They gave us some actions that gave us some trouble,” Vent said of the Bucyrus defense. “We adjusted at halftime and we were able to guard them better in the second half.”

“We’re young. We’re still getting better,” Seybert said. “They’re starting to understand what we’re trying to take away and we did a really good job of it. Some other girls from Upper stepped up. That’s why they’re a good team. It’s well balanced all the way around for them.”

Box score

Upper Sandusky       19        8      11       17 — 55

Bucyrus                         11        5        8          5 — 29

Upper Sandusky (13-4, 9-2 N10): Shots 21-41; 3-pt. shots 8-21 (Addy Newman 3, Grace Walton 2, Leah Kinley 2, Kaidance Iles); Free throws 5-10; Rebounds 29 (Velourea Stowers 7); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Addy Newman 3 0 9, Grace Walton 7 1 17, Leah Kinley 3 0 8, Bailey Fox 1 0 2, Alyse Swartz 2 0 4, Brynn Cundiff 0 2 2, Kaidance Iles 2 0 5, Brooke Finscally 2 0 4, Velourea Stowers 1 2 4.

Bucyrus (5-10, 2-9 N10): Shots 10-38; 3-pt. shots 2-11 (Brook Dennison 2); Free throws 7-13; Rebounds 23 (Maddie Kimmel 7); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Maddie Kimmel 2 2 6, Brook Dennison 3 0 8, Addy Rister 2 4 8, Marissa Middleton 3 1 7.

JV: Upper Sandusky 46-6.