The Bluffton Lady Pirates ran into a couple of tough birds this past week in the form of top ranked Liberty Benton Eagles and the Lima Central Catholic Thunderbirds. Liberty Benton took down the Pirates 71-32 Tuesday. LCC followed that up with a 73-32 win on Thursday in Lima. Bluffton faced Miller City in the opening round of the tournament this Tuesday.
Liberty Benton took to the court and was ready to show evidence that they lived up to their lofty #1 state ranking. The undefeated Eagles issued a full court press from the opening tip, creating a chaotic pace for Bluffton to deal with. LB dashed out to an 11-0 lead before Sami Harrod fed Lydia Guagenti for a layup with 4:00 left in the opening quarter. Bluffton hung around and two Mariah Welch free throws closed the gap to 15-7 after one. The Eagles quickly distanced themselves with a 25-4 second quarter. Molly Lengyel scored the first Pirate bucket midway through the second quarter on a nice feed from senior Sarah Stratton, as the Pirates could not handle LB’s pressure. Taylor Wenger banked in a heave at the buzzer to make the halftime score 40-11.
After halftime, Bluffton broke the press with more regularity, scoring 17 points in the quarter. But it was a case of too little, too late as the balanced Eagles continued to trudge towards the win. Freshman Alexis Lugibihl made a jumper late in the fourth for Bluffton’s only points of the final eight minutes. When the dust settled, LB had made 9 of 27 three point attempts and forced 29 Pirate turnovers. Molly Lengyel led the way with 12 points, Mariah Welch scored 7, Taylor Wenger and Lydia Guagenti each had 6 for Bluffton.
Thursday, the Pirates were looking to spoil the fun for Senior Night at LCC but ran into a white hot T-Bird buzzsaw. Senior T-Bird Frankie Luchini went off, scoring 13 first quarter points and totaled 18 by halftime including four 3s. Luchini’s effort enabled LCC to jump out to a 24-6 first quarter lead. Pirate coach Dennis Lee attempted to slow down LCC by throwing some different defensive looks such as 1-3-1, man and 2-3 zone but it was just the T-Birds’ night. LCC extended their halftime lead to 46-15. For the game, the Birds shot 8-19 on threes. Molly Lengyel put in yeoman’s effort pulling down 11 boards to go with her team leading 11 points. Lydia Guagenti was all over the court throughout the night put in 8 and had 3 blocks. Mariah Welch added 7, Taylor Wenger 4 and Sami Harrod drained Bluffton’s lone ‘3’.
Click here for LCC game photos from Troy Breidenbach!
Tags: Lydia Guagenti, Taylor Wenger, Mariah Welch, Molly Lengyel, Sami Harrod, Sarah Stratton, LCC, Liberty Benton
Teams: Basketball (G)