Tuesday's first-round matchup with the Deerfield Spartans seemed to whet the appetite of the Bucklin Red Aces girls basketball team's defense.
The Aces owned everything about the game and won going away 56-16.
After a sluggish start that saw the young Deerfield team take an early 5-2 lead, the Aces played their cards to the tune of a 24-3 run during the rest of the first half. Their full-court press forced Spartan turnovers in the backcourt on more possessions than not, and the Aces actually held the Spartans scoreless in the second quarter.
"The first quarter, we came out kind of blah. That's about all I can say," said Bucklin coach Galyn DeVore. "I felt like the last three quarters, we played with a lot of enthusiasm and did the things we were supposed to do."
After taking a 6-5 lead after the first quarter, the Aces scored 20 unanswered points in the second to tote a 26-5 lead into the intermission.
Most of Bucklin's buckets in the quarter came in close to the basket.
"We're a young team, and we made young mistakes against their press," said Deerfield coach Doug Crandall. "Some of the passes we made were bad passes, and [Bucklin] was able to take advantage. But we'll get better."
The Aces' 6-foot-2-inch post player, Haley Lindsey, led the team's barrage of baskets with 14 points on the afternoon. Forward Lauren Torline also filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, five steals, four assists and two blocked shots.
"We knew that if we played defense, the baskets would come," Devore said.
And come they did. The Aces continued their hot streak out of halftime, scoring the first seven points. The Spartans finally broke up Bucklin's 31-3 run with a free throw in the third quarter.
The Aces coasted to the 56-16 win in the final quarter. They will face the host Cimarron Bluejays, who beat down the Healy Eagles 68-22, Thursday in the second round of the tournament.
The Spartans will face the Eagles on Thursday as well.
CIMARRON —
