The Bradford Lady Owls looked no different on Thursday night than most other District 9 teams that have tried, but failed, to stop Kane’s Ella Marconi over the past couple of seasons.

Despite a strong effort and defensive gameplan, Marconi used her size and strength to lead the Lady Wolves to a hard-fought 49-43 victory over Bradford.

Marconi (14 points) outscored the Lady Owls (1-6) by herself in the first half, as Kane looked as if it would roll easily after holding a 26-11 lead after 16 minutes.

But, as Bradford has done all season, it fought hard and turned this non-league game into a tightly-contested battle late.

The Lady Owls cut Kane’s (3-2) lead to just four points with less than two minutes remaining, but a couple of free throws and two bad turnovers late thwarted Bradford’s comeback attempt.

“We showed signs of brilliance, but we also showed signs that we weren’t so brilliant,” Kane coach Dave Kiehl said. “Bradford is a bunch of shooters. I knew going in that they were going to hit some shots. Give them credit, they are well-coached and everybody comes to play.”

The Lady Owls did hit some shots in the second half, which put them back into the game after that 15-point halftime deficit. Led by another strong showing from its backcourt, Bradford sank four 3-pointers in the third quarter to outscore Kane 16-10.

In the fourth, the Lady Owls made seven field goals — mostly on transition buckets after forcing turnovers — to really give Kane a late scare.

For the Lady Owls, which have lost all six of their games this year by 15 points or fewer, it was another game they were in until the very end.

“We’re getting closer and we did a few silly things with not paying attention to detail on a couple different things,” Bradford coach Bob Hannon said. “It seems like every game we come out slow. It’s not like we haven’t had opportunities, as we’ve had some good looks at the basket. Three of four of those shots in the first half were halfway down and we just couldn’t get anything to drop.

“We just dug ourselves a hole, but I thought the kids fought hard and picked up the defensive pressure a bit in the second half. We just didn’t have enough to get it done.”

Despite Marconi’s output, the Lady Owls did a solid job keeping the rest of the Kane offense in check, especially in the second half. While Kane’s 6-foot-3 forward had 13 points over the final two quarters, her teammates hit just three field goals down the stretch.

“(She) is tough,” Hannon said of Marconi. “Morgan (Tyger) is upset with herself because she didn’t think she played well, but she played as well as she could’ve played her. She’s got (Tyger) by about four inches and maybe 80 pounds. She’s a load in there, and Morgan is just a (smaller girl) who works her butt off.”

“We forced them to take some bad shots and miss in the second half, but they got offensive rebounds. Can’t have that in a game decided like that.”

Those offensive rebounds in turn led to trips to the free-throw line for Marconi, who sank eight of her 17 attempts from the line, including four makes in the fourth quarter.

“She’s just tough to stop, that’s all there is to it,” Kiehl said. “They just climb all over her and it’s typical, but it’s not fair. She holds her composure, but it gets old no doubt.”

Erica Marshall had 11 points in the second half to lead Bradford with 15 points in the game, while Hannah Lary had 13 for the Lady Owls.

And while Hannon once again called his young team a ‘work in progress,’ he is encouraged that his team is not only getting open looks, but starting to get some of them to fall.

“We told the girls to not hang their heads and we just need to keep playing hard,” Hannon said.

“We get open looks at the basket, we just have to be able to put them in. If our girls can keep working hard and plugging away I do see some wins coming. That’s the positive for us.”

With no holiday tournaments on the schedule this year, the Lady Owls are off until Jan. 4.

Kane (49)

Ella Marconi 9 9-17 27, Buhl 2 0-0 6, A. Marconi 3 1-2 7, Saf 1 0-0 3, Bucheit 1 0-0 3, Hillman 1 0-0 2, Brown 0 1-4 1. Totals: 17 11-23 49

Bradford (43)

Erica Marshall 7 0-0 15, Hannah Lary 5 0-0 13, Huber 3 0-0 7, Tyger 2 0-0 4, Moffett 1 1-2 4. Totals: 18 1-2 43

Kane     12 26  36 49

Bradford   7 11 27 43

Three-point goals: Kane 4 (Buhl 2, Bucheit, Saf), Bradford 6 (Lary 3, Marshall, Huber, Moffett); total fouls: Kane 10, Bradford 15; fouled out: none

JV: Kane won 37-18