NORTH ROBINSON — Kendra Ackerman and Sydney Wurm are two of the youngest members of the Buckeye Central “gym-rat” club.

According to BC coach Abram Kaple, players who are members of the club must have 20,000 made shots over the summer. Ackerman and Wurm took that to heart.

Ackerman, a 5-foot-5 senior, dropped two huge 3-point shots early in the third period before Wurm, a 5-foot-8 sophomore making her first varsity appearance, opened the fourth period with a pair of 3s, as the Buckettes dropped Colonel Crawford, 56-45, in their season-opener Tuesday night.

The Eagles fell to 2-1 on the season and coach Kyle Fenner said the Eagles wanted to keep BC star Claudia Pifher from beating them.

“(BC) got off to a pretty good start in the third quarter and I thought that we were doubling off, trying to stop Pifher from getting into the lane and they had kids in Ackerman and (Wurm)  that stepped up and hit shots,” Fenner said.

Kaple said that his team’s ability to hit critical shots in key spots was the difference.

“Taylor (Ratliff) and Claudia are obviously going to draw a lot of attention and Emily (Siesel) as well when we get her back,” Kaple said. “Kendra and Sydney know their roles. They’re going to draw the help-side defender and their job all summer was to shoot 3s, knowing how that was going to translate to the season.

“Kendra is now in her second year and is more comfortable, finishing strong last year and starting this year and I’m glad she carried that over,” Kaple added.  “Sydney, in her first varsity game, to knock down two 3s at a time when they were doing a great job on Claudia and Taylor. Somebody needed to step up and understood what her role was, and she made two big shots.”

Not that Pifher and Ratliff weren’t factors. They were.

Pifher scored eight of her game-high 22 points in the first period as the Buckettes grabbed a 15-9 lead after one period.

But the Eagles came storming back in the second. Crawford limited BC to just five points in the frame and Hannah Plesac scored five points as Crawford held a 24-20 lead at the break.

Ackerman’s second 3 of the third period gave the Buckettes a 33-29 lead midway through the frame and the Buckettes never trailed the rest of the way.

Kaple said that his team played well, considering they were not able to play all that much in recent weeks. The Buckettes’ first game at Willard was postponed due to the coronavirus.

“It took a little bit to get our bearings, for the first time being on the floor,” Kaple said. “Not only in terms of competitive play but just with the one scrimmage and then being quarantined. We’re just excited to be out here.

“We had three girls who have never seen varsity action and we were able to get out to a lead,” he added. “I felt we had some uncharacteristic turnovers, but I really liked our composure and our leadership we had in the second half.

We really looked like an experienced team who has been battle-tested.”

Ratliff finished with 16 points and Ackerman tossed in 10 for BC.

“In this game, we overcame about every obstacle we could.

We did a good job of understanding our scouting report,” Kaple added. “We were probably in a little better shape than we were at this time last year. We’re a little bit smaller, and we feel we have a little more quickness and we can potentially pressure people more than we did. I thought we did a great job defensively and offensively down the stretch.”

Crawford played solid defense the entire game and outrebounded BC, 33-27, but Fenner said that her team didn’t make enough shots.

“I have to watch the tape, but I felt that we had some looks and some shots, and we just didn’t make them,” Fenner said. “We had some shots and some front ends of one-and-ones and we just didn’t make enough basketball plays.

Kaylyn Risner hit three 3-pointers in the second half for the Eagles and finished with 14. Allison Teglovic added 10.

“I guess they just made a few more basketball plays in the second half,” Fenner said.

In the junior varsity game, Colonel Crawford came away with a 33-25 win. Allison Weithman and Niyah Shipman led the Eagles with eight points. Paige Collene paced BC with seven.

Box score

Buckeye Central      15      5     19     17 — 56

Colonel Crawford      9    15     11     10 — 45

Buckeye Central (1-0, 1-0 N10): Shots 21-45; 3-pt. shots 7 (Kendra Ackerman 2, Claudia Pifher 2, Sydney Wurm 2, Taylor Ratliff); Free throws 13-19; Rebounds 27; Turnovers 9. Scoring: Kendra Ackerman 4 0 10, Claudia Pifher 7 6 22, Julia Evak 1 0 2, Taylor Ratliff 4 7 16, Sydney Wurm 2 0 6.

Colonel Crawford (2-1, 0-1 N10): Shots 13-42; 3-pt. 3 (Kaylyn Risner 3); Free throws 16-22; Rebounds 33; Turnovers 12. Scoring: Mallory Plesac 1 2 4, Theresa Dzugan 0 2 2, Jenna Maddy 1 7 9, Hannah Plesac 2 2 6, Kaylyn Risner 5 1 14, Allison Teglovic 4 2 10.

JV: Colonel Crawford 33-25.