Plagued with turnovers and the inability to cash in shots, the Bradford girls basketball team fell at home to Kane, 39-27.

The Lady Owls beat themselves up in the first quarter. Out of the gates, the Lady Owls gave up five consecutive turnovers on their first five possessions, grinding their offense to a standstill with no shots taken for the first three minutes.

Kane turned those steals into easy baskets on the other end of the court, driving by the Lady Owls’ slow rotations and jumping out to a 8-0 lead with two minutes left. Bradford’s first and only points of the first quarter came from a mid-range jumper from Kalie Dixon with 1:30 left before finishing off the quarter with two more consecutive turnovers.

“(Kane) makes it tough to get your offense started up front. They play a pressure defense against the person who has the ball,” said Bradford head coach Marty Bechelli. “We’re just not experienced enough to beat those things yet. We do the best we possibly can but we don’t have experience.”

Kane added to its lead in the second quarter with physicality under the glass. Collecting several offensive rebounds, sometimes three at a time, the Lady Wolves scored multiple times early with easy shots in the paint.

When not attacking the rim, the Lady Wolves’ sharp passes forced the Lady Owls out of rotation, giving up drives or open jumpers.

Despite this, Bradford found some momentum from Alanna Benson, who knocked down a pair of threes and a mid-range jumper to cut the lead to seven with just over four minutes left. Late in the second quarter, both teams entered a shootout, with Kane and Bradford trading 3-pointers back-and-forth.

“When (Benson) wants to play she’s really good, but she has to want it the whole time. She has to play within herself,” said Bechelli. “The other kids have to do the little things to get her open.”

The Lady Wolves survived the late push from the Lady Owls, entering halftime up 23-10.

“(The message at halftime was) that we weren’t out of this. We just had to make some shots,” said Bechelli. “We work on it every day at practice. We just really need to push it as hard as possible. It doesn’t matter what you do, it doesn’t matter what you run, if you can’t put the ball in the hole, you’re in trouble.”

Both offenses slowed down in the second half. The Lady Owls stopped giving up turnovers but could not find points due to the collapsing Kane defense down low and an inability to get offensive rebounds. However, on defense, Bradford showed improvement.

Focusing on their own paint defense, the Lady Owls dared Kane to shoot threes, which the Lady Wolves could not connect on. With consecutive steals and trips to the free-throw line, the Lady Owls ended the third outscoring Kane 9-4 to bring the deficit to eight with one quarter left.

Bradford had hope in the final quarter. Battling through a full-court-press, another 3-pointer from Benson cut the lead to seven with five minutes remaining, followed by an offensive rebound from Dixon that made it a two-possession game.

Fearing a blown lead, Kane stepped up its aggressiveness in the paint, forcing the Lady Owls to miss shots close. Kane was able to pull away with drives that landed them on the free throw line, amassing a seven point lead with 1:30 left in the game.

With time ticking away, the Lady Owls were forced to intentionally foul.

Benson led the Lady Owls with 11 points, followed by Dixon with 10. For the Lady Wolves, Mia Anderson led the offensive production with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“When it really comes down to, each kid has to take ownership and so do the coaches. We really have to work on fundamentals even though this far into the season we really shouldn’t have to be doing that much,” said Bechelli. “We have to get better ball handling, better moving up and down the court, seeing the court and especially shooting.”

Anderson 5 0-0 11, Tigani 3 3-5 9, Hillman 0 6-6 6, Smith 2 0-0 4, Jekielek 1 0-1 2, Haight 1 0-0 2. Totals:

Bradford (27)Benson 4 0-0 11, Ka. Dixon 4 1-2 10, Ko. Dixon 1 0-1 2, Persichini 0 2-4 2, Taylor 1 0-0 2. Totals:

Three-point goals: Kane 1 (Anderson), Bradford 4 (Benson 3, Ka. Dixon); Total fouls: Kane 17, Bradford 20; fouled out:

JV: Kane won 49-12