High school basketball: Buckeye girls try to find silver lining in decisive loss to Elyria Catholic

ELYRIA — The Buckeye girls basketball team found out Monday why Elyria Catholic hasn't lost a game since 2019. Playing without starting center and leading scorer Autumn Meyer and top backup Kaitlyn Letner, the Bucks were held to four first-quarter points and never recovered as Elyria Catholic rolled to its 30th consecutive win, 71-29 in a Great Lakes Conference game. The Bucks (2-7, 2-3) did a good job of stopping Elyria Catholic (9-0, 6-0) from running its trademark drive-and-kick offense early in the game, but eventually the Panthers just started spotting up and firing from long range. Natalie Palese, Lexi Szalai, Lexi Hall and Annika Bredel all connected from beyond the arc as the Panthers built an 18-4 lead. "EC always has a good program, and they have really good coaches, so we always know it's going to be a tough game," Bucks coach Lynnae Whitehead said. "We have two (players) out right now that made it even tougher. Right now our pattern is we don't start out games with full intensity, and then it's too hard to pick things back up." Buckeye only made one field goal in the final 10:25 of the first half and went into the locker room trailing 36-8. The Bucks came out with renewed energy in the third quarter, with senior Sydney Bell scoring the first points of the second half and senior Reagan McCord following shortly after with a 3-pointer that cut the Panthers lead to 41-14. Before Buckeye could make a sizable dent in the Elyria Catholic lead, the defending GLC champions went on another 9-0 run. "I'll be honest. I talked to my team for about 25 seconds at halftime," Whitehead said. "I let them figure it out. They talked to each other, communicated and figured it out, and that's what we really need right now. We need the team leaders to step up, and I allowed them to do that today." Junior forward Casey Cash had a big day off the bench for the Bucks, leading the team with a career-high eight points. McCourt had seven points, while Bell and Alyssa Beckett had four each. The Panthers were led by junior guard Annika Bredel, who had 16 points. Emily Rapacz (12 points) and LexI Hall (10 points) were also in double figures for the defending Division III regional champions. "It's just a battle of will right now for our girls to mentally be in the game and mentally be fighting as hard as they are physically," Whitehead said. "That's hard for any team, and it's something our girls are working on. That builds character that will stay with them from now and until they are 75 years old." Contact Todd Shapiro at sports@medina-gazette.com. Elyria Catholic 71, Buckeye 29 BUCKEYE &emsp;&emsp; 4 4 12 9 — 29 ELYRIA CATHOLIC &emsp;&emsp;18 18 16 19 — 71 Buckeye — Reagan McCourt 3-0-7, Allison Salazar 1-0-3, Courtney Keeler 0-1-1, Sydney Bell 2-0-4, Alyssa Beckett 1-2-4, Teagan Widenmeyer 1-0-2, Casey Cash 4-0-8, Rosa Treece 0-0-0, Erin Demagall 0-0-0, Ally Vogt 0-0-0, Addy Beckett 0-0-0, Alyssa Sibley 0-0-0, Grace Williams 0-0-0. TOTALS: 12-3-29 Elyria Catholic — Natalie Palese 2-1-7, Kenya Simpson 1-1-3, Lexi Szalai 2-0-6, Lexi Pluta 4-0-8, Lexi Hall 4-0-10, Emily Vogel 2-0-4, Isabelle Niederst 1-0-2, Emily Rapacz 4-3-12, Annika Bredel 6-2-16, Sarah Griffin 1-1-3. TOTALS: 27-8-71. 3-point goals — Salazar, McCourt, Palese 2, Szalai 2, Bredel 2, Hall 2, Rapacz. Rebounds — Buckeye 27, Elyria Catholic 43. Records — Buckeye (2-7, 2-3), Elyria Catholic (9-0, 6-0). Junior varsity — Buckeye 33, Elyria Catholic 31.