NORTH ROBINSON — Colonel Crawford defended their home court with a 39-27 win over Bucyrus in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference contest on Tuesday night. The Eagles used a big first quarter advantage that carried them through three slow quarters offensively.
“We have to get in the gym and work at it. You have to be a scorer. Have to work on attacking the glass, pull up jump shots — that just comes with practice,” Colonel Crawford head coach Kyle Fenner said.
Colonel Crawford (4-1, 1-1 Northern 10) opened the game with a 16-2 lead after one quarter of play. The Eagles forced six Bucyrus turnovers in the period and often found themselves in transition. Six different Colonel Crawford players got into the scoring column in the opening quarter.
“We’re going to be scrappy in about every game we play. First quarter was our downfall. They got some easy run outs on us,” Bucyrus head coach Brian Seybert said.
Bucyrus (1-3, 0-2 Northern 10) was able to battle back in a pretty evenly played second quarter. Colonel Crawford still took a 25-8 lead to the locker room at halftime. Eagles senior guard Kaylyn Risner led all scorers with eight points in the first two quarters.
Colonel Crawford dominated the first half turnover battle 13-2 over Bucyrus.
“In spots defensively we had some good gap help to start the game,” Fenner said.
The Lady Red again showed in the third quarter that they could continue to play with the Eagles. Bucyrus and Colonel Crawford each scored 11 points in the third to make it a 36-19 Eagles advantage heading into the final quarter. Junior forward Madalyn Kimmel led Bucyrus with four points in the quarter and Risner added five for the Eagles.
“We have to make more shots. I don’t know what we were from the floor, we weren’t very good,” Fenner stated.
Colonel Crawford was able to hold off the last punch by Bucyrus. The Lady Red outscored the Eagles 8-3 in the final eight minutes, but still fell short.
“After that (first quarter) going to a motion offense, screening, and cutting. We attacked the basket, we weren’t doing that early on,” Seybert said.
Risner led all players in scoring with 14 points. Junior guard Mallory Plesac added six points for the Eagles. Seven players scored a bucket each for Crawford.
Kimmel led Bucyrus with nine points. Marissa Middleton added eight points on the night. Bucyrus turned the ball over 20 times compared to six for Crawford.
Colonel Crawford picked up their first Northern 10 win of the season against Bucyrus. Up next on the schedule for the Eagles is a trip to Carey on Friday.
Bucyrus will try to regroup when they play at Wynford on Friday.
