HOLMES TOWNSHIP (Crawford County Now) — Poor shooting was the first thing Buckeye Central head coach Tyler Shade noticed after his team fell 38-24 to county rival Wynford in a girls Northern 10 Athletic Conference contest Friday night.

The Buckettes hit on just 1-of-24 from beyond the arc and 8-of-43 overall. The Lady Royals jumped out 11-1 to start the game.

“I was very pleased with our effort defensively, but the shots just weren’t falling. I felt like that first run everything we had talked about the past couple of days in practice, we kind of did the opposite. Patience offensively, looking for the good shot and slowing down the temp of the game,” Shade said.

“On the flip side of that our transition defense. We got rushed on the offensive end a few times and forced up some bad shots. Bad shots lead to run-out lay-ups for a good team like Wynford.”

Wynford moves to 13-3, 8-2 and BC falls to 4-10, 3-7.

Caroline Sheldon led the Lady Royals with 14 points and 6 rebounds. Jenna Filliater added 9 and Maggie Ridge 7. Filliater grabbed 5 rebounds and Ridge 4.

Wynford went up 19-14 at halftime as Megan Siefert hit a 3 and Aleyse Siefert scored 4 points for BC.

Wynford head coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon knew the Buckettes would provide a formidable challenge.

“Coach Shade has them playing really hard, especially at the rebounding end. We got outrebounded and they were playing physical, (getting) loose balls, deflections,” she said.

Buckeye Central won the battle of the boards, 37-31.

“That made the game kind of ugly for us. We’ve got to be more physical. We’re not the tallest team. We’re not going to outreach them when a team is a little bit longer. That’s something I’m going to have them work on a little bit to be more consistent.”

Wynford opened the second half with a spurt and went on top 30-16 as Sheldon drained a 3, as did Ally Liming and Filliater. The Lady Royals outscored BC 13-4 in the third quarter.

“Credit to our girls for weathering the storms. We got it down to a 5-point game at the half, but you can’t dig yourself a hole like that. I felt defensively tonight we were really good,” Shade said.

“Wynford has two all-Ohio guards like Caroline and Maradath (Engler). They’re going to score and there’s a reason they’re averaging almost 50 a game.”

Getting into the paint and to the rim is something Buckeye has stressed, Shade said.

“We didn’t make a free throw (1 attempt) in the second half. Credit goes to them.”

Jenna Ciaflone led BC with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.

“We’ve said it the past two years; she’s very slippery. She does a very nice job of getting downhill; that’s kind of her game. We say she’s like an old-school Steve Nash,” Shade said.

“She’s a distributor and in games like tonight when she gets her flow, you can see that potential to grow into a really good point guard down the road for us.”

Aleyse Siefert added 7 points 4 boards.

“I thought when they took their initial shot, we forced some bad shots. But their tenacity kept them in the game,” Taylor-Sheldon said.

Engler and Paige Sheldon had 3 steals each.

“We weren’t being very disciplined in terms of fouls. We fouled a ton in that first half. We’ve just got to clean it up a little bit and be a bit more consistent.

“But it is the grind of January. We’ll keep working and just want to be in a position to compete at the end.”

Wynford visits Plymouth Thursday while Buckeye Central hosts Willard in non-league contests.

Box score

Buckeye Central        5         9         4         6 — 24

Wynford                    11         8       13        6 — 38

Buckeye Central (4-10, 3-7 N10): Shots 8-43; 3-pt. shots 1-24 (Megan Siefert); Free throws 7-15; Rebounds 37 (Megan Siefert 6, Joslynn Hensley 5); Turnovers 15. Scoring: Jenna Cianflone 4 2 10, Alyese Siefert 1 5 7, Joslynn Hensley 1 0 2, Megan Siefert 1 0 3, Macy Deppen 1 0 2.

Wynford (13-3, 8-2 N10): Shots 14-40; 3-pt. shots 6-24 (Jenna Filliater 3, Caroline Sheldon 2, Ally Liming); Free throws 4-8; Rebounds 31 (Caroline Sheldon 6, Jenna Filliater 5); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Caroline Sheldon 5 2 14, Maradath Engler 2 0 4, Maggie Ridge 3 1 7, Ally Liming 1 0 3, Paige Sheldon 0 1 1, Jenna Filliater 3 0 9.

JV: Wynford 43-7.