It’s been a common theme for the Bradford girls this year: a first half where they look confident on offense and play stout defense, only to lose their concentration down the stretch.

Those issues reared their head once again on Friday night, as the Lady Owls fell to Warren 44-36 to fall to 2-14 on the season.

“We struggled with some of the fundamental things: we struggled catching the ball, we get our hands on rebounds and just didn’t secure them,” Bradford coach Bob Hannon said. “I told the girls I thought we were in a position to do a lot of good things. But what it came down to was some passes where we just didn’t catch the ball. I thought that they were stronger than we were and that showed in some of the things that happened.”

Warren rebounded from a 25-19 halftime deficit with a strong third quarter in which Bradford was held to just two points. That, along with a game-high 22 points from Margo Loutzenhiser, was enough to give the Lady Dragons (5-10) the win.

Despite being outrebounded early in the game, Bradford took the early lead thanks to a great first quarter from sophomore Erica Marshall. Marshall scored all nine of her points in one quick stretch in the first quarter to help give the Owls a 16-10 cushion after eight minutes.

“Erica hit a couple of big shots early on,” Hannon said.

The second quarter saw Bradford getting some better looks at the basket while also converting on some nice interior passing. On defense, the Owls were forcing the Dragons into some poor shot attempts.

Perhaps most encouraging of all, Bradford was consistently laying out for 50-50 balls, with Hannon noting the play of senior Brinya Moffett in the paint. Moffett led the Owls with 10 points despite fouling out of the game.

“I thought Brinya played pretty well on the boards,” Hannon said. “She did a nice job in the first half. Then you get three fouls on you, I think you’re a little more timid, you’re a little more apt to just stay back a little bit. But I thought she did a pretty nice job on the boards for us.”

But the Lady Owls weren’t able to carry that momentum over to the second half.

Warren opened the third period with an 8-0 run, taking advantage of some sloppy Bradford passes. The Owls’ inability to sustain possessions was the main factor in their scoring just 11 points in the second half, as was the inability to convert on the chances that they did have.

“When you have the open looks, you have to make them,” Hannon said. “You make a couple of those shots… we had a couple of good looks at the basket at the end that could’ve cut it down to four points; we just didn’t put it in.”

As the game wore on, Loutzenhiser began to take over for Warren, finding her way to the basket on several impressive drives.

“Give them credit; they get out and they run the floor well,” Hannon said.

Despite a slightly better offensive showing in the fourth quarter, Bradford simply wasn’t able to capitalize on enough opportunities to narrow the margin.

“I don’t question the effort. I thought the girls played extremely hard,” Hannon said.

He then made note of his squad’s limited depth, saying, “No excuses, but some of the girls are having to play a lot of the JV game and some of the varsity game. I know that has to wear on you. I told the girls I’m proud of them for as hard as they played.”

While the losses continue to mount, Hannon is seeing signs in enough areas to give him confidence that his team is taking the necessary steps to improve.

“Quite honestly the last three games that we’ve played, we’ve played as hard as we’ve played all year, so hopefully that’s going to continue on,” he said.

Bradford will be back in action on Tuesday when the Lady Owls host St. Marys in an attempt to win their first D-9 League contest of the season (0-5).

“We’re a young team and I think we have to go some of these growing pains and try to work our way through them,” Hannon said.

AT BRADFORD

Warren (44)

Childress 1 0-2 2, Wood 1 0-0 3, Al. Hultberg 1 0-0 2, Stuart 1 0-0 2, Wilson 2 0-3 4, Margo Loutzenhiser 10 2-2 22, Au. Hultberg 4 1-2 9. Totals: 20 3-9 44

Bradford (36)

Tyger 3 0-0 6, Marshall 4 0-0 9, Lary 1 1-2 3, Maley 3 0-2 6, Huber 1 0-0 2, Brinya Moffett 2 4-6 10. Totals: 14 5-10 36

Warren   10 19 29 44

Bradford 16 25 27 36

Three-point goals: Warren 1 (Wood 1), Bradford 3 (Marshall 1, B. Moffett 2); Total fouls: Warren 12, Bradford 12; fouled out: B. Moffett (Bradford)

JV: Warren won 37-35