NORTH ROBINSON — The Battle of Ohio 602 became the Northern 10 Athletic Conference’s battle of unbeaten girls’ teams.
After spotting host Colonel Crawford an 11-5 first quarter advantage, a veteran Buckeye Central (4-0, 1-0) team shut them down the rest of the way to post a 38-19 victory inside a packed Mac Morrison Gym Friday night.
“We needed this for a lot of reasons. We feel we haven’t played our best basketball. We’ve had some odd game times and some different things. I feel good our kids were able to get up for a Friday night game against a conference opponent in a good environment,” said Buckettes head coach Abram Kaple.
Sparked by Ryley Kantzer’s 15 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, she and her fellow senior classmates held Crawford (5-1, 0-1) to just 5 second-half points and scoreless over the final 8 minutes.
“Our kids stepped up to the plate and answered the challenge,” Kaple said. “We had a good week of preparation and practice. The girls executed the game plan in terms of taking away some of their strengths.”
The visitors went up 18-14 at halftime as Kate Siesel drilled a pair of 3-pointers. Siesel ended with 11 points and Sydney Wurm added 9 and 3 rebounds.
Having 5 senior starters is a huge benefit for Buckeye Central. All of them played roles in last season’s run that took them to the Division IV state semifinals.
“Their roles have changed, but all 5 of them played a pivotal role in last year’s team. Now it’s kind of their time to write the chapter,” Kaple said.
“During timeouts or in practices we can revert back to things like, ‘hey, we’ve seen this before.’ It’s definitely huge to have them on the floor with that type of experience.
“We feel we have a lot of balance. In the past we played through one or two kids, and we had to. Now anybody’s number can be called. Syd hits two big 3s and Kate hits another 3 and Ryley has two good drives.”
Kaple also praised the work of an unsung starter in Paige Collene.
“Paige is working her tail off rebounding the basketball. Her being 5-9 but playing like she’s 6-foot is huge. She does a lot of things that don’t show up in the stat column.”
Collene had a pair of rebounds and a steal.
“She’s played three games in a row now where she’s not come off the floor,” he said. “She does a great job for us defensively.”
Colonel Crawford was led by sophomore Mira Holt with 10 points.
“All year long we’ve hung our hat on defense. We guarded well for 2 and a half or 3 quarters against a really good offensive team,” said Lady Eagles head coach Zac Bauer.
“Give a lot of credit to Buckeye Central. They make good shots. They’re a very skilled team,” he said.
“We struggled to score all year. But when we struggled to score before, we got stops. We’ve gone and held teams to 10, 15. We knew that wasn’t going to happen tonight, so to only get 19 against a team of Buckeye Central’s quality isn’t going to get the job done. To hold them to 38 is a pretty good accomplishment.”
Holt drove for a basket and kept the game close at 19-16 early in the third quarter. Kantzer and Wurm then took over with baskets allowing BC to go on a 10-3 run to open a 10-point margin at 29-19.
“They are a seasoned team,” Bauer said. “I told our kids we’ve only been together for 6 games, all of us. You’re going to have your ups and downs. It’s a long season. Buckeye Central is playing on the level that we’d like to be at. We gotta learn from this and move on because we play Bucyrus Tuesday.”
Both coaches acknowledge the league is balanced.
“You’ve got to be ready. In the league you’re going to get everybody’s best shot. It is very balanced. A lot of quality teams that play hard and are passionate about what they do,” Bauer said. “Kids got to have a short memory, learn from this and get better.”
Kaple agrees with the quality in the N10 this season.
“I’ve only really looked at Crawford. But judging based on rosters, there’s going to be a lot of parity. You’re going to have to bring it every night. You talk to any coach in our league, chances are they’re going to say the same thing,” he said.
“We’ll enjoy this and begin to focus on Mohawk tomorrow morning.”
The Buckettes host the Lady Warriors on Tuesday night.
Box score
Buckeye Central 5 13 11 9 — 38
Colonel Crawford 11 3 5 0 — 19
Buckeye Central (4-0, 1-0 N10): Shots 13-27; 3-pt. shots 5-9 (Kate Siesel 3, Sydney Wurm 2); Free throws 7-12; Rebounds 17 (Ryley Kantzer 10); Turnovers 8. Scoring: Kate Siesel 4 0 11, Sydney Wurm 3 1 9, Kennedy Deppen 1 1 3, Ryley Kantzer 5 5 15.
Colonel Crawford (5-1, 0-1): Shots 7-33; 3-pt. shots 3-15 (Mira Holt 2, Allison Weithman); Free throws 2-2; Rebounds 17 (Lynae McKibben 4); Turnovers 15. Scoring: Gabby Roston 1 0 2, Mallory Plesac 0 2 2, Mira Holt 4 0 10, Allison Weithman 1 0 3, Lexi Rush 1 0 2.
JV: Colonel Crawford 21-19.