By TOM NYHUIS
Vigilant/Argus

BUCHANAN – A 21-point second quarter by the Buchanan girls’ varsity basketball team led to its first win of the season as the Lady Bucks scored a 51-27 Lakeland Conference win over visiting Cassopolis Thursday (Dec. 17) evening.

“The girls definitely needed this win to for their moral,” Buchanan coach David Cleveland said.

Leading 6-3 at the end of the first quarter, Buchanan, which as a team has struggled in their first four games of the season to get the ball to fall through the net, opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run.

Elizabeth Hein got the team going with a bucket from behind the 3-point line a minute into the quarter. Julia LaBounty added a basket and a free throw followed by four more points from the free throw line by Amanda Wynn and Chelsea Adolph to take a 16-3 lead.

“That was huge and we have been talking about when the shots finally start falling you have to be patient and when the shots are falling things are going to go much better. Once we hit a few shots then they gained the confidence they have been looking for,” Cleveland said. “They haven’t been able to find who is going to be the leader and who is going to step up and do it.”

The Bucks finished the quarter on an 11-7 run to end the quarter and take a 27-10 lead into the locker room.

“We didn’t play well defensively in the first half,” Cassopolis coach Floyd Foston stated. “Too many mistakes offensively. We are making terrible passes cross-court passes and that is just not going to happen. We need to get better defensively and get better offensively and we just have to keep working until we get it right.”

Hein and LaBounty led the Lady Bucks with 14 points and Wynn added 12.

Cassopolis’ Damonica Kelly dropped in three 3-pointers to lead the Lady Rangers with a game-high 15 points.

“Damonica runs the point and she does have a good shot when she gets the open look. I encourage her to take the shot. She played well against Brandywine and had a decent game again tonight. We just have to move the ball better offensively whether we are facing a zone defense or a man defense we just have to have better ball movement,” Foston said.

Buchanan (1-4, 1-2 Lakeland) controlled the boards with a 33-17 advantage over the Rangers. LaBounty led Buchanan with 10 rebounds and Wynn pulled in nine.

Another big factor for Buchanan was limiting its turnovers to 18 in the game. Buchanan turnovers have been an issue in their first four games.

Cassopolis dropped to 1-4, 0-3 in the Lakeland with the loss.

Buchanan will now take a break through the holiday break and won’t hit the hardwood again until Jan. 5.

BUCHANAN 51
Jordan Helt 0 0-0 0, Nicole Rutherford 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Hein 3 7-8 14, Chelsea Adolph 0 3-4 3, Amanda Wynn 4 2-2 12, Julia LaBounty 5 4-6 14, Courtney Adolph 1 0-0 2, Krystal Avance 0 0-0 0, Erin Glavin 2 0-0 4, Amanda Anglero 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 16 16-20 51
CASSOPOLIS 27
Damonica Kelly 5 2-3 15, Sasha Lanier 0 0-0 0, Savannah Sullivan 1 1-2 3, Lela Broussard 1 0-1 2, Reese Ellison 3 1-2 7, Jameka Eleazer 0 0-0 0, Devan Hillyer 0 0-0 0, Tayler Williams 0 0-0 0, Reneathia Neal 0 0-0 0, Felicia Poore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10 4-8 27

Cassopolis 3 10 21 27
Buchanan 6 27 36 51
3-point baskets: Buchanan 3 (Wynn 2, Hein 1) Coloma 3 (Kelly 3). Team fouls: Buchanan 17, Cassopolis 16. Fouled out: None. Varsity records: Buchanan 1-4, 1-2 Lakeland; Cassopolis 1-4, 0-3 Lakeland. JV score: Buchanan 40 (Desiree Scoggin 14, Ashley Simpson 10) Cassopolis 27 (Jocelyn Transou)