NEW WASHINGTON — On a night when Buckeye Central seniors Ally Green and Lexi Evak were honored, it was their underclass stars that were the difference.

Sophomore Claudia Pifher and junior Taylor Ratliff each scored 19 points as the Buckettes dropped Colonel Crawford, 46-30.

With the win, the Buckettes improved to 14-2 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, 17-5 overall. Colonel Crawford fell to 9-7 in the league, 14-7 overall.

“They’re good,” Colonel Crawford coach Kyle Fenner said of the BC guards. “They have offensive skills. They can score by putting it on the floor, they can pull up and make a jump shot and they can shoot a three. They’re really good guards.”

Buckeye Central coach Abram Kaple felt that his guards have been too passive in recent weeks.

“We talked to them both about being more aggressive, especially in transition,” Kaple said. “In the last few games, we thought they were being too passive. Their mindset has to be to score first and, if the defense takes that away, then to make the right decision with the ball, especially in transition by being aggressive and making sure the other team has to put us at the foul line.”

After Colonel Crawford guard Theresa Dzugan hit a 3, giving Crawford a 3-1 lead early in the game, the Eagles didn’t score again for more than eight minutes, when Kaylyn Risner scored early in the second quarter.

From there, the Buckettes held a 22-8 lead midway through the second period and increased it to 34-22 at the half.

After that, the Buckettes were never headed.

“We were much better defensively as we have been of late,” Kaple said. “We did a good job of understanding their personnel and what we wanted to do. We were able to execute that. That’s the second game that we’ve held (Allison Teglovic) under her average and that’s the number one thing on our scouting report.”

Fenner felt that her team played very good defense, holding the rest of the team to just eight points.

“We played pretty well defensively, we made them turn the basketball over and I thought we played hard,” Fenner said. “We didn’t get off to a great start and we didn’t make many shots.

“I think we were three of 19 from behind the arc. I think we shot 20 percent for the game, and you’re not going to beat Buckeye Central shooting that. We had open looks.”

Kaple said he was pleased with the way his team played defensively. BC limited the N10’s leading scorer, Teglovic, to just eight points. Risner paced the Eagles to just 12 points.

“The rest of the girls did a good job of forcing them to take the shots we wanted them to take,” Kaple said. “We wanted to make sure we collected defensive rebounds and finished the possessions.”

Kaple singled out post Lexi Evak as playing well on defense.

“Lexi was huge defensively,” Kaple said. “She was definitely big in the second half. She’s played enough games and won enough games that she knows there will be nights where she doesn’t have to score 20 points or 15 points. Her job tonight was to make sure Allison Teglovic didn’t get hers and she did a good job.”

Box score

Colonel Crawford      3     13     6      8 — 30

Buckeye Central       14     11     9     12 — 46

Colonel Crawford (14-7, 9-7 N10): Shots 11-44; 3-pt. shots 3-20 (Theresa Dzugan 2, Kaylyn Risner); Free throws 5-9; Rebounds19; Turnovers 8. Scoring: Theresa Dzugan 2 0 6, Ally Hocker 1 0 2, Jenna Maddy 1 0 2, Kaylyn Risner 4 3 12, Allison Teglovic 3 2 8.

Buckeye Central (14-4, 12-2 N10): Shots 15-33; 3-pt. shots 4-12 (Taylor Ratliff 2, Claudia Pifher, Ally Green); Free throws 12-19; Rebounds 29 (Lexi Evak 11); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Claudia Pifher 6 6 19, Taylor Ratliff 6 5 19, Ally Green 1 0 3, Lexi Evak 2 1 5.

JV: Colonel Crawford 34-32.