MASSILLON — The games are dwindling down to a precious few. And the stakes continue to get higher with each one that passes.

But the Buckeye Central Buckettes approach each one the same — even at the regional level.

The Buckettes used their defense to produce offense, creating a 14-4 run over the last three-plus minutes of the second quarter that built a 20-point lead. From there, Buckeye Central cruised to a 61-28 victory over New Middletown Springfield at the Division IV regional semifinal at Perry High School.

“That two-minute stretch there, that was a big momentum swing,” Buckeye Central coach Abram Kaple said of the final two minutes of the first half. “We were struggling, at times, to get shots. We were a little stagnant, a little timid with the basketball sometimes. That (stretch) was kind of like the monkey off our back. It kind of seemed to settle us a little bit, even though it took almost the whole first half.”

The Tigers were able to hang around early, trailing just 14-8 after the first period and were only down 19-9 midway through the second quarter.

“We executed pretty well for the first quarter — first six minutes,” Springfield coach John Matisi said. “And then their talent just took over. We knew what we were up against.

“Six points in a couple of seconds,” Matisi said of two quick possessions by the Buckettes near halftime. “We hit that 3(-point shot) and were feeling good. Then all of a sudden, you’re down 20.”

The sequence both coaches referred to was a three-point play by Emily Siesel with four seconds left in the half, followed by another three-point play on a steal and score by Kennedy Deppen with a tenth of a second showing.

That gave Buckeye Central (25-1) a 33-13 lead heading to the locker room. Springfield (22-5) never got closer than 17 in the second half.

The Tigers spent a lot of energy trying to stop BC’s Claudia Pifher, who led the Northern 10 Athletic Conference in scoring at 20.7 ppg. She also recently became the Buckeye Central’s all-time scoring leader.

Springfield succeeded in holding Pifher to 10 on the night. However, Emily Siesel matched her season average of 19 to lead the way, while Deppen and Ryley Kantzer joined Pifher in scoring 10 points.

“We won by 31, 33, whatever the final score ended up being, and the school’s all-time leading scorer had (10),” Kaple said. “It’s a testament of being a team. We’re the Buckeye Central Buckettes. Everybody who puts on the jersey has the ability to score and they’re on the floor for a reason.”

“We wanted to take away 1 (Emily Siesel) and 4 (Pifher), then we wanted to take away 24 (Sydney Wurm) and then 2 (Kate Siesel) coming off the bench,” Matisi said. “You just can’t get them all covered. We did a pretty good job for a quarter. We just couldn’t sustain it.”

The Buckettes force 18 turnovers and only committed two themselves. And they kept the ball out of the post defensively. They held Tigers’ leading scorer Jacey Mullen to nine points and no other Springfield player had more than four, though the Tigers did connect on five 3s.

“We’ve been talking more about how we wanted to front the post, limit their touches, a hard ¾ front if it gets to the baseline, and we’ve done a really good job of that,” Kaple said. “Our backside help has been great.”

Springfield, making its first appearance in the regional since 1992, only loses two seniors — guards Kalia LaMorticella and Grace Venturella — so the first-year head coach likes his chances of a return trip next year.

“We knew what we were up against — (Buckeye Central’s) all-time leading scorer, another tremendous senior,” Matisi said. “That’s not just a good team, I think it’s an all-time team that they have out there. So, to run into that, their seniors are wanting it more than anything, it’s a good experience for us.

“We were hoping to get here with the roster we have,” Matisi continued. “I feel like we have a good shot of coming back. This experience is going to be big for us to build on.”

“We had a talk Monday, kind of circling back through our goals,” Kaple said. “Obviously, the main goal everybody knows. We kind of talked about the little goals and what it was going to take, those mini milestones, to get to where your ultimate goal is.”

Saturday, the Buckettes look to take that last step necessary for the ultimate goal, when they face Dalton — a 50-38 winner over Bristolville Bristol — in the regional final on Saturday at 7 p.m. back at Perry High School.

Box score

Buckeye Central                              14       19      10      18 — 61

New Middletown Springfield      8          5        8         7 — 28

Buckeye Central (25-1): Shots 23-48; 3-pt. shots 5-15 (Claudia Pifher 2, Ryley Kantzer 2, Emily Siesel); Free throws 10-18; Rebounds 26 (Ryley Kantzer 7); Turnovers 2. Scoring: Emily Siesel 7 4 19, Claudia Pifher 3 2 10, Julia Evak 1 0 2, Kennedy Deppen 4 2 10, Ella Evak 1 0 2, Nevaeh Metzger 0 2 2, Ryley Kantzer 4 0 10, Kimmy Biglin 1 0 2, Paige Collene 2 0 4.

Springfield (22-5): Shots 10-27; 3-pt. shots 5-14 (Peyton Kliem, Kalia LaMorticella, Jacey Mullen, Jameka Brungard); Free throws 3-9; Rebounds 23 (Jacey Mullen 9); Turnovers 18. Scoring: Marina Tuscano 1 0 2, Peyton Kliem 1 0 3, Madison Lesnak 1 0 2, Kalia LaMorticella 1 1 4, Grace Venturella 1 0 2, Jacey Mullen 3 2 9, Ava Vecchione 1 0 3, Jameka Brungard 1 0 3.