WILLARD — At halftime, Buckeye Central coach Abram Kaple wasn’t happy, but his words of wisdom in the locker room worked like a charm.
His Buckettes struggled in the first half and held a 17-13 lead, but outscored Norwalk St. Paul, 29-0, in the third period en route to a 52-22 win in the Division IV district semifinal at Willard High School Thursday night.
With the win, the Buckettes (21-3) advanced to the district championship game against Sandusky St. Mary (17-6) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Willard High School.
What did Kaple say to his charges at the break?
“We weren’t making shots in the first half, and sometimes there is a little bit of a lid on the basket and we told the girls to keep shooting the basketball, eventually they are going to go,” Kaple said.
Well, it worked.
Freshman Claudia Pifher knocked down 14 of her game-high 19 points in the frame, including three 3-point shots. And it was her two 3s and a layup in the first two minutes of the third period that sparked the Buckettes.
“About the first four minutes of the third quarter there was a flurry,” Kaple said. “We were a little more aggressive, pushing in transition and got some easy looks. So, we were trying to stress that to find your man in transition and, we have so many shooters, that one extra pass you can get wide open looks. That’s what we did and that first four minutes of the third quarter was huge for us.”
From that point, the BC defense clamped down on the St. Paul offense, never letting the Lady Flyers score in the period. For the game, St. Paul made just eight of 48 shots from the floor.
“We had a really good three days of practice,” Kaple said. “We covered our sets, we had good focus. We were prepared for what they were going to do. And we kinda bought into what St. Paul was doing with three outstanding guards. And I know the Endsley girl only had one and the Smith girl only had five. And they both averaged double figures and that was our key.
“And that was huge for our guards. We stuck to the game plan and were able to execute.”
In the first half, BC made eight of 20 shots from the floor for 40 percent, but hit 11 of 13 shots in the decisive third period, finishing with 21 of 40 for the game.
“(St. Paul is) a big-time defensive team and they came out with a lot of energy and that’s a credit to them and their scouting report,” Kaple said. “They knew a lot of our sets and we didn’t get any transition buckets and we were a little mired in our half-court sets and we were a little slow to get to our spots. And that leaves Taylor on an island, dribbling the basketball and we turned the ball over 12 times in the first half and we can’t do that.
“We still have to clean up things for Saturday.” Kaple added.
Courtney Pifher backed up her sister with 11 points and post Lexi Evak added nine.
Megan Hamilton paced St. Paul with nine points.
Box score
Buckeye Central 4 13 29 6 — 52
St. Paul 6 7 0 9 — 22
Buckeye Central (21-3): Shots 21-44; 3-pt. shots 5-14 (Claudia Pifher 3, Courtney Pifher, Taylor Ratliff); Free throws 5-6; Rebounds 36 (Lexi Evak 12); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Claudia Pifher 7 2 19, Taylor Ratliff 2 0 5, Courtney Pifher 4 2 11, Kyleigh Brown 3 0 6, Lexi Evak 4 1 9, Elizabeth Heydinger 1 0 2.
Norwalk St. Paul (17-6): Shots 8-47; 3-pt. shots 1-16 (Lauren Chandler); Free throws 5-8; Rebounds 13; Turnovers 14. Scoring: Megan Hamilton 4 1 9, Camille Endsley 0 1 1, Danielle Smith 1 3 5, Katie Kamann 2 0 4, Lauren Chandler 1 0 3.