WILLARD — While few games come down to one play, Buckeye Central’s Claudia Pifher came up with one that could be argued saved the day for her Buckettes.
Pifher grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw with under 20 seconds to play. She was immediately fouled, and subsequently hit both ends of a one-and-one, as Buckeye Central ultimately held off Seneca East, 52-51, in the Division IV district final at Willard High School.
“Honestly, at that moment, everything kind of shuts out, and it’s only that play,” Pifher said of her dramatic rebound. “Only that play matters. You give it everything you’ve got, and we got the rebound and it helped us tremendously.”
True that, as Pifher’s two free throws gave the Buckettes a 52-48 lead with 15.5 seconds left. Lady Tigers’ star Jessica Bowerman bombed in a 3-point shot from beyond NBA range but with no timeouts left, Seneca Eat (21-4) was unable to stop the clock and time ran out without Buckeye Central (20-5) having to inbound the ball.
“Last year, when we played Seneca East, that was the backbreaker for us, except we were on the opposite side of that,” Buckeye Central coach Abram Kaple said. “And for Claudia to get that offensive rebound — and we got another timeout to talk about it and understand what we wanted to do and went over situations. It was a heads-up play by Ally (Green), when Bowerman hits the 3, to just stand there and hold (the ball).”
The play, while late in the game and high profile, was not the only one that determined the result, according to Seneca East coach Don Vogt.
“A game is made up of like 20,000 pieces,” Vogt said. “That was one piece but there were other things — stop a drive here, secure a rebound there, make a free throw. You can never predict that because you never know what the outcome is.”
The game was a fitting battle between teams that had split two regular-season games and finished 1-2 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference and contained ebbs and flows throughout.
The Buckettes took charge early, hitting three 3s in building a 15-10 first-quarter lead and pushed the advantage to 17-10 early in the second.
Buckeye Central maintained the advantage until Seneca East mounted an 11-2 run over the final three minutes of the half to take a 26-24 lead at intermission.
Buckettes’ post Lexi Evak sat much of the first half with two fouls and Bowerman scored 12 of her team-high 16 points for the Tigers.
“In the second quarter, we were just tired, and we were turning it over because we were sucking so much wind,” Kaple said. “(Bowerman) had 12 points at halftime. Where she gets her points — getting downhill, right-hand drives, offensive rebounds — we just focused in (in the second half).”
Buckeye Central trailed much of the third quarter and Seneca East even added a point to their halftime lead, 36-33, entering the fourth quarter.
Even though Evak picked up her third foul early in the third period, Kaple decided to let her play through it and the move paid dividends. Evak scored six points in the second half, but more importantly, rebounded and played solid post defense.
“A senior, in her fourth straight district final — for her to score 10 points in limited playing time, you can’t say enough about that,” Kaple said.
With their season on the line, the Buckettes roared back in the fourth quarter, scoring 19 points, gassed though they might have been.
Pifher scored eight of her 15 points in the period, including the crucial final two free throws, to overtake the Tigers.
“The whole second half, it was like they’d make a shot and we’d make a shot and I’d look at the scoreboard and say, ‘Man, there’s still seven minutes left,’” Kaple said. “It was a fun game to coach, it was a fun game, I’m sure, for them to play and for the spectators, I’m sure it was a heck of a game to watch.”
Makenna Depinet scored 15 points to second Bowerman’s 16 for the Tigers. Alexis Hicks added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Vogt was sad that he will lose Bailey Hamilton, Briley Brookes and Taylor Greilich, but credits his seniors for helping shape the team.
“From my perspective, starting where we started, not knowing where all these young pntieces were going to fit, they have just had a fantastic year,” Vogt said. “Bailey Hamilton kind of put it in perspective. Some of the other kids have won constantly, in junior high and what not, jayvee. But the senior class never has, and she was amazed on how far we have come with that group as our senior leadership. I told them, obviously, they have had a huge part in what we have done.”
He credited Hamilton for her defensive intensity, Brookes for pushing others in practice and Greilich for coming back after two years off and improving her game.
Taylor Ratliff seconded Pifher’s 15 points with 14 — including three 3s — and Evak finished with 10 for the Buckettes. Pifher also had six rebounds.
“It’s really exciting,” Kaple said of BC’s fourth straight trip to the Massillon regional. “But listen, we played our tails off from start to finish. We made play after play and it wasn’t just one person. The seven that we play were phenomenal. This is awesome. This is everything you’d hope it could be for these kids.”
“It was a great game and hats off to Buckeye Central and Coach Kaple to have a great team,” Vogt said. “I wish them well in the regional there in Perry. It was a well-executed game on their part and it’s nice that a fellow N10 school has that opportunity.”
“Our goal is to get back to Columbus and we felt like last year, we didn’t play our best game in the regional semifinals,” Kaple said. “We had some fluke things happen last year, so we want to get back to redeem ourselves.”
The Buckettes will play McDonald in the regional semifinal on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Perry High School.
Box score
Buckeye Central 15 9 9 19 — 52
Seneca East 10 16 10 15 — 51
Buckeye Central (20-5): Shots 18-44; 3-pt. shots 7-16 (Taylor Ratliff 3, Ally Green 2, Kendra Ackerman, Claudia Pifher); Free throws 9-10; Rebounds 24 (Claudia Pifher 6); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Kendra Ackerman 1 0 3, Claudia Pifher 5 4 15, Julia Evak 1 0 2, Taylor Ratliff 4 3 14, Ally Green 2 0 6, Ryley Kantzer 1 0 2, Lexi Evak 4 2 10.
Seneca East (21-4): Shots 21-52; 3-pt. shots 4-16 (Jessica Bowerman 3, Makenna Depinet); Free throws 5-11; Rebounds 35 (Alexis Hicks 10); Turnovers 11. Scoring: Bailey Hamilton 1 0 2, Jessica Bowerman 6 1 16, Brooke Bordner 1 0 2, Makenna Depinet 6 2 15, Amelia Boes 1 1 3, Alexis Hicks 6 1 13.