By TOM NYHUIS
Niles Daily Star

BUCHANAN – A new era of Buchanan girls’ basketball opened Tuesday night as first year coach David Cleveland made his varsity coaching debut.

The outcome wasn’t what Cleveland or his Lady Bucks wanted as they fell to visiting Michigan Lutheran 45-36 in the non-league contest.

“We are still trying to gel together as a team,” Cleveland said following the loss. “We lost our two main scorers from last season (Hillary Faulkner and Anna Callahan) and we have to find a way to replace them and I have some kids that are ready to step up and they are doing it. Our shots were just not falling tonight.”

Buchanan trailed the Lady Titans through out the entire game falling behind by as many as eight points in the second half. Krystal Avance cut the lead to two, on a 3-pointer, with 1:25 to play. Two consecutive Lutheran turn overs forced by a pesky Buchanan defense set up the come back and the Avance bucket.

The Lady Bucks had several opportunities to tie the game but costly turnovers down the final stretch forced Buchanan to foul the Lady Titans sending them to the foul line where they stretched the two point lead to the final nine point win. Buchanan finished the night with 24 turnovers while Michigan Lutheran had 21 miscues. “We played aggressive and finally got the game back to within two and then couldn’t get the right shot and a couple of turnovers late. We had some good looks but we have to be able to knock the shots down. We can do it we just need to get some more confidence too,” stated Cleveland. “A lot of these kids weren’t counted on as scorers last year with Hillary and Anna the main option.”

It was the seniors leading the Lady Bucks on offense with Elizabeth Hein netting a game-high 15 points, Amanda Wynn scored nine and Julia LaBounty added eight. Hein and LaBounty pulled in five rebounds as the Lady Bucks were out rebounded 20-19 by the taller Lady Titans. Jenna Green led the Titans with 15 points, Alyssa Curry chipped in with nine.

Buchanan (0-1) will jump right into Lakeland Conference action Friday as it will host Edwardsburg.

BUCHANAN 36
Elizabeth Hein 4 7-10 15, Chelsea Adolph 0 1-2 1, Amanda Wynn 4 0-0 9, Julia LaBounty 2 4-6 8, Courtney Adolph 0 0-0 0, Krystal Avance 1 0-2 3, Erin Glavin 0 0-0 0, Jordan Helt 0 0-0 0, Nicole Rutherford 0 0-0 0, Amanda Anglero 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 12-20 36

MICHIGAN LUTHERAN 45
Linda Kenyon 2 2-4 7, Rachel Mannino 0 0-3 0, Alyssa Curry 3 3-4 9, Jenna Green 7 1-5 15, Sara Schinske 1 3-5 5, Chelsey Jennings 0 1-2 1, Rabekah Bartz 4 0-1 8. Totals 17 10-24 45

Michigan Lutheran  6  21  30  45
Buchanan  4  16  26  36
3-point goals- Buchanan 2 (Wynn, Avance) Mi. Lutheran 1 (Kenyon) Team fouls (foul out)- Buchanan 22 (none), Mi. Lutheran 21 (none), Turnovers- Buchanan 24, Mi Lutheran 21, Rebounds- Buchanan 19 (Hein 5, LaBounty 5, Avance 4), Mi. Lutheran 21, Records- Buchanan 0-1, Mi. Lutheran 1-0. Junior Varsity- Mi. Lutheran 31 (Amanda Ott 6), Buchanan 23 (Ashley Simpson 7, Desiree Scoggins 7)