NEW WASHINGTON — It was a night that the Buckeye Central Buckettes simply didn’t shoot the ball well. In the first half, the Buckettes made just seven of 28 shots and 12 of 41 after three periods.
As a result, Seneca East grabbed a 22-10 lead early in the second period and led 25-19 at the break.
It was a night BC had to grind it out and committed just six turnovers, one in the second half, and forced 25 Seneca East miscues to come all the way back to tie the game at 50-50 on a Taylor Ratliff free throw with 5.6 seconds left.
The Buckettes shut out the Tigers in the final 5:16 of the fourth period and overtime to gain a crucial 55-50 win in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference showdown Friday night.
With the win, BC stayed unbeaten at 4-0 in the N10 and overall. The Tigers fell to 0-1 in the conference and 1-2 overall.
Seneca East coach Don Vogt felt that his team’s inability to handle the basketball at critical times hampered his team’s ability to hold on to a lead.
“Obviously, our execution was sometimes not there and it’s just disheartening,” Vogt said. “They played so well and so hard, and there were just a couple of mental errors at the end, and that was the ballgame.
We could have done a lot of things; you never want to talk about a couple of plays, there were a few things throughout the game that we could have improved on,” he added.
Buckeye got its first lead since early in the game at 47-46 on an Emily Siesel jumper from the free-throw line but the Tigers came back and got two free throws from Brooke Bordner and Alexis Hicks added two free throws to take a 50-47 lead with 1:19 left in regulation.
Buckeye stormed back. Claudia Pifher hit two free throws and Ratliff added her free throw to send the game into overtime.
In the extra frame, the Buckettes controlled the tempo of the game, taking care of the basketball on offense and shutting out the Tigers defensively.
Siesel drilled a 3 early in the extra period and Pifher knocked down two free throws with 17.6 seconds left to seal it.
BC coach Abram Kaple said that the character of his team was on display, especially in the first half when they didn’t shoot it well.
“Again, we didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half,” Kaple said. “Some of it we just missed shots. We had good looks they just weren’t going in. Also, part of it is where we took some ill-advised shots that were a little rushed. The girls were taking shots in some spots where we would not have liked them.
“I just thought we were a little rattled and a little fast in the first half, and it took two-and-a-half quarters to kind of get our bearings and understanding when we wanted it.”
Kaple also felt that his team was able to overcome adversity most of the night.
“We dealt with foul trouble and they did, too,” Kaple said. “We had to mix people around and guard different people that we originally didn’t have planned.
“That’s a credit to our girls for understanding, in terms of their personnel, who can do what, where they’re good from,” he added. “We did a great job and we played tough down the stretch. We didn’t get every rebound, a lot of times we battled, and I can appreciate the effort we put out there. Jump balls, being the first one on the floor for loose balls.”
Vogt felt that’s BC’s ability to take care of the ball was the biggest difference.
“Especially when you play a team that averages 10,” Vogt said of the Buckettes. “That’s something we have been working on ever since we played Hopewell. We have to go back to the drawing board and keep working, a lot of it is just decision-making, stuff in practice, situations where we have to focus a little more on protecting the ball with a pass.”
Pifher paced the Buckettes with 19 points and Ratliff added 12. Siesel added eight huge points.’
“We did a good job of executing and we talked about how the officials were calling the game both ways, it was very tight,” Kaple said. “We were in the bonus the majority of the fourth quarter and overtime, and we wanted to put ourselves in a position to use ball screens and get downhill and make them make a call. Anytime they touched us we were getting to the free-throw line. Granted, we didn’t make as many as I would like.
“We talked about not settling for jump shots, making them defend, put some of their players in ball-screen situations and we did a good job.”
Brooke Bordner played very well for the Tigers, leading the way with 14 points and Jessica Bowerman, the two-time N10 Player of the year, added 11. Amelia Boes and Hicks each tossed in eight.
In the junior varsity game, Buckeye Central won 48-20. Kate Siesel led BC with 13 points and Caroline Kagy topped Seneca East with 10.
Box score
Seneca East 15 10 13 12 0 — 50
Buckeye Central 10 9 14 17 5 — 55
Seneca East (1-2, 0-1 N10): Shots 15-41; 3-pt. 3-9 (Mya Ousley, Jessica Bowerman, Brooke Bordner); Free throws 17-24; Rebounds 40; Turnovers 25. Scoring: Mya Ousley 2 0 5, Jessica Bowerman 2 6 11, Brooke Bordner 5 3 14, Kiersten Cook 2 0 4, Amelia Boes 2 4 8, Alexis Hicks 2 4 8.
Buckeye Central (4-0, 4-0 N10): Shots 19-56; 3-pt. shots 6-23 (Taylor Ratliff 3, Emily Siesel 2, Claudia Pifher); Free throws 10-19; Rebounds 23; Turnovers 6. Scoring: Kendra Ackerman 2 1 5, Claudia Pifher 6 6 19, Julia Evak 2 0 4, Emily Siesel 1 2 8, Taylor Ratliff 4 1 12, Ryley Kantzer 2 2 6, Kyleigh Brown 0 1 1.
JV: Buckeye Central 48-20.