Senior Night can be a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s great to celebrate the athletes who have dedicated themselves to a program for several years.

But, on the other hand, sometimes it can throw things out of whack and have a negative effect.

According to first-year Bay girls coach Kyle Johnson, his team was a bit too hyped up for their Senior Night encounter Wednesday with Cleveland West Conference foe Buckeye, but the Rockets managed to overcome their own excitement to take a 33-24 victory. Bay now stands at 8-8 overall and 5-5 in CWC play, while Buckeye, which started a lineup of four freshmen and a senior, falls to 6-10 and 2-8.

“It was really sloppy tonight,” said Johnson. “I think our girls were really emotionally excited for Senior Night. I think that played a big part of it. But overall, I thought we competed hard and we came away with a victory. I’m proud of the seniors. They’ve done such a tremendous job of being inclusive and dedicated to our program. I’m just super happy for them to get a win tonight, because they put in a tough four years.”

Both teams struggled on offense. The Bucks had more turnovers than points with 26 miscues, as Bay started in a man-to-man defense but eventually settled on a 2-1-2 press that dropped into a 1-2-2 zone. Buckeye also employed a 1-2-2 zone for the final three quarters of the game and Bay had difficulty attacking it, although the Rockets did make four 3-pointers (two each by Quinn O’Leary and Norah Trefz) while Buckeye made just one.

“We’ve seen zone before, but we’re still trying to work through it and figure out the best way to attack it,” said Johnson. “But I thought we stayed the course today with it. Did we get a ton of good looks out of it? Probably not. But I thought for the most part we did a nice job of not turning it over against their zone.”

After a slow first quarter that ended in an 8-8 tie, Bay went on a 13-3 run in the second quarter to open a 21-11 halftime lead. It appeared the Rockets might be on their way to an easy one, but the Bucks battled back to within four, 24-20, with 1 minute, 32 seconds remaining in the third period.

Bay answered with a baseline drive by senior Grace Manoloff to make it 26-20 entering the final period, and when O’Leary hit her second 3-pointer of the night at the 4:42 mark to make it 29-20, the game was pretty well in hand. O’Leary, a senior guard, finished the game by hitting four of four free throws, and she led the Rockets with 11 points, followed by Trefz with eight. Buckeye was led by freshman Ava Piovarchy with 10 points.

“We’re getting better,” said Johnson. “I thought our press was much better than it had been. I thought our man-to-man defense, for the most part, was better than it had been. We have some work to do on the offensive end, but I do feel like we’re getting better.”