NEW WASHINGTON — On a day when the Buckeye Central Buckettes were seeking near-perfection, they weren’t offensively.
It didn’t seem to matter.
The Buckettes made just 17 of 47 shots from the floor for 36 percent, but they were able to ramp up their defense in the middle portion of the game to down Wynford, 50-26, Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Buckettes (20-1, 14-0) completed their second straight unbeaten season in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. BC has now won 31 straight league games, dating back to Jan. 31, 2020, when the Buckettes fell to Carey, 27-21. Wynford dropped to 8-6 in the conference, 14-7 overall.
Buckeye Central coach Abram Kaple said that his team completed several goals this season.
“That was something that we kinda talked about,” Kaple said. “To go back-to-back. These seniors have never lost to Wynford or anybody in the county now in six years.
“Another goal of ours was to have another 20-win season,” Kaple added. “And here we are at 20-1. That’s six in a row with 20 or more wins. I wasn’t a part of all of that, but fortunately in my first four years we were able to get 20 wins. And to finish at home undefeated this season was another goal we talked about. I’m really proud of what we were able to do.”
Kaple said that small goals are as important as the larger ones.
“They may seem miniscule but, goals can’t always be to win the district,” Kaple added. “You need to have little milestones along the way. So, you’re not just chasing after one goal. Baby steps and we’re going to keep propelling ourselves forward and I thought we did a good job of that.”
The Royals did a nice job of controlling the tempo and limited BC All-Ohioans Emily Siesel to 16 points and Claudia Pifher to 11. But senior post Julia Evak, playing her last home game in New Washington, scored 12.
“Julia had a good game,” Kaple said. “They used (Averi) McMillan on Claudia with her length and she’s quick laterally and give credit to them. They were physical and Claudia missed some shots she normally makes, too. You can’t all have perfect games.”
Wynford coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon said she was pleased with the way her team played.
“Ultimately, I feel that, if you’re playing Buckeye Central, your whole essence has to be to control the tempo,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “I thought we did that in stretches, in terms of like, controlling how fast we wanted to go, or how slow we wanted to go.
“It’s just hard to maintain that when you’re playing one of the best teams in the state of Ohio,” Taylor-Sheldon added. “I thought we had really good moments of consistency and followed through our game plan as best we could. It’s a taxing game mentally and physically and we’re just not at the level that they are right now.”
The Royals were right with the Buckettes after one period, trailing, 10-8, and trailed just 23-16 at the break. Pifher, who leads the N10 in scoring, did not score in the first quarter and had seven at the half.
Taylor-Sheldon said that McMillan did a nice job on the Buckettes’ All-Ohioan. She also led the Royals with eight points.
“Averi McMillan is a special defender,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “She is athletic enough to be out on the perimeter and she’s long enough to play a post player.”
Trailing just 25-18 early in the third period, the next 11 minutes were the difference in the game.
After the Royals missed a wide-open layup that would have cut the lead to five, Emily Siesel scored on a three-point play, Ryley Kantzer knocked down two free throws, Pifher scored on a layup, Siesel drilled a 3-pointer, and Pifher scored again, increasing the lead to 37-18.
Wynford only scored one point over the next five minutes. By then, the Buckettes held a 50-19 lead.
“You have to have everyone be on the same page defensively,” Taylor-Sheldon said. “And we did that a lot of the game. Obviously, they are the toughest team on our schedule. We held our own and, you hate to talk about moral victories, but I thought we did a lot of things well, especially defensively.
“We need to improve here, going into the tournament, with offensive execution and keeping our composure, but our team will be prepared and ready to take the first step on Wednesday,” she added.
Kaple said that he thought the Royals did a nice job.
“Wynford played really well,” Kaple said. “And so did we. We just didn’t make shots. Sometimes, you don’t make shots. We rely on scoring a lot of points so when some of the shots we normally make don’t go in, we still played well, especially in the first half.
“We want to pressure,” Kaple added. “Get opportunities to get out in transition and play at a high tempo and we did that. We just didn’t make some of the shots we normally make.’
Kaple said he was really pleased with the way his team played defensively.
“We had them stuck on 19 for the longest time,” Kaple said. “We had a 14-3 quarter and, minus a little run here with three minutes to go, I thought we were phenomenal on the defensive end.
“Offensively, we didn’t score as well as we would like but from this point on, it really doesn’t matter,” Kaple added. “It doesn’t matter if it’s one or 41 or 21, they’re all in the left-hand column and they all mean something now. If you don’t get it done, then you go home.”
The Buckettes travel to Bellevue on Monday to finish the regular season, then open the Division IV tournament on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Ashland Crestview against the winner of Plymouth and New London.
The Royals are finished with the regular season and open the Division III tournament as the fourth seed. They will play 12-seeded Milan Edison on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Buckeye Central High School.
Buckeye Central also won the junior varsity game, 37-29. Ella Evak led the Buckettes with 15 points. Zoe Whitmeyer led the Royals with 19 points.
Box score
Wynford 8 8 3 7 — 26
Buckeye Central 10 13 14 13 — 50
Wynford (14-7, 8-6 N10): Shots 10-31; 3-pt. 0-11; Free throws 6-11; Rebounds 23; Turnovers 20. Scoring: Maddie Coffman 1 2 4, Reese McGuire 1 0 2, Grace Stucky 1 3 5, Averi McMillan 4 0 8, Alexis Stevely 2 0 4, Katie Wagner 1 1 3.
Buckeye Central (20-1, 14-0 N10): Shots 17-47; 3-pt. shots 3-16 (Emily Siesel, Claudia Pifher, Ryley Kantzer); Free throws 13-19; Rebounds 20 (Claudia Pifher 6, Julia Evak 6); Turnovers 5. Scoring: Emily Siesel 5 5 16, Kate Siesel 1 0 2, Claudia Pifher 4 2 11, Julia Evak 5 2 12, Ryley Kantzer 1 4 7, Sydney Wurm 1 0 2.
JV: Buckeye Central 37-29.