By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
EDWARDSBURG – They say good defense wins games and Buchanan's girl's varsity basketball team proved just that at the Edwardsburg gym Friday night.
A 21-5 third quarter sealed the deal for the Lady Bucks as they handed the Lady Eddies a 52-26 Lakeland Conference loss in Edwardsburgs season opener.
Buchanan improves to 2-0 while Edwardsburg starts their season at 0-1.
It was a combined team effort for the Lady Bucks as all eight players scored. Leading the way was Hayley Cashier with 13, Emily Ross adding 11 and Anna Callahan chipping in with 10.
"Anna played real aggressive tonight and she was playing hurt. Her ankle is puffed up," Buchanan coach Bill Weaver said. "I was impressed with a couple of catches she made. She nailed that catch and scored on a couple playing real aggressive and taking it to the hole."
The Lady Eddies found the pesky Buchanan defense tough to score on as they got down early with Buchanan racing out to a 17-4 first quarter lead. In the quarter Edwardsburg turned the ball over 13 times. Buchanan finishing the quarter with a 12-0 run to break open a 5-4 contest.
Edwardsburg fought back in the second half opening the quarter with an 8-1 run and cut the lead to six with 2:22 to play in the first half.
"That's going to happen. It's a game of runs," Weaver said of the Eddies second quarter comeback.
The Lady Bucks finished out the half on an 8-4 run and open up a 32-16 lead at the half.
Buchanan slammed the door shut on the Lady Eddies in the third quarter as they turned up the defensive pressure once again to limit the Lady Eddies to five points in the quarter and 10 for the half.
"The start of the second half was big that we nailed some shots from outside. But overall our team defense has been fun to watch,"Weaver said.
"We are making them think, they don't know where we are coming from because we are just hustling and all five girls on the floor are trying to make some thing happen. It's fun to watch them," Weaver said. Edwardsburg finished the night with 31 turnover in the game. Buchanan limited their miscues to 16.
Stephanie Koontz picked up nine points for the Eddies with Brea Edwn finishing the night with six.
Buchanan's junior varsity grabbed a 38-24 win over Edwardsburg. Chelsea Adolph knocked down 24 points to pace the Lady Bucks. Erin Burks led the Lady Eddies with 10.
BUCHANAN 52
Hillary Faulkner 2 1-2 6, Emily Ross2 6-7 11, Elizabeth Hein 2 1-2 5, Leah Hunt 1 0-0 2, Amanda Wynn 1 1-2 3, Julia LaBounty 1 0-0 2, Anna Callahan 5 3-5 10, Hayley Cashier 5 3-5 13. Totals 19 12-18 52.
EDWARDSBURG 26
Rea Dewn 3 0-0 6, Emily Kozinski 2 0-0 4, Steffany Streb 1 0-0 2, Stephanie Koontz 4 0-2 9, Elsie Mackling 1 0-0 2, Lindsasy Harroff 1 0-0 3. Totals 12 0-2 26.
BUCHANAN 17 26 47 – 52
EDWARDSBURG 4 16 21 – 26
Three point baskets: Buchanan 2 (Faulkner, Ross) Edwardsburg 2 (Koontz, Harroff)
Team fouls: Buchanan 8, Edwardsburg 11. Total turnovers: Buchanan 16, Edwardsburg 31. Records: Buchanan 2-0, 2-0 Lakeland, Edwardsburg 0-1, 0-1 Lakeland