NORTH ROBINSON — On a night when defense was the name of the game, the Buckeye Central defense was slightly better.
The Buckettes played far more 2-3 zone against Colonel Crawford than they had shown all season, and it was effective when the game was on the line.
The Eagles had cut the BC lead to five, 45-40, with 3:07 left in the game, but the Buckettes held CC to just one free throw the remainder of the way to seal a 52-41 Northern 10 Athletic Conference win at Mac Morrison Gymnasium.
The win was the 16th in the last 17 games for the Buckettes, who finished the regular season at 19-3 overall, 14-2 in the Northern 10 Conference. Crawford fell to 8-8 in the conference, 14-8 overall.
For the second time, the Eagles had an opportunity to upset the talented Buckettes but fell short both times. At BC, the Eagles dropped a 42-30 decision.
The fact that Crawford pushed Buckeye again was no surprise to Buckeye Central coach Abram Kaple.
“Crawford, in my opinion, is much improved,” Kaple said. “They have been playing well and it was senior night at home. Plus, they felt that they kind of let one slip away at Buckeye, so we knew they would come in ready to go. It was a gritty win for us, and we’ll take them all at this point in the season.”
The Eagles came in riding a five-game win streak and had the last eight days off, which was not a hindrance, according to coach Kyle Fenner.
“I kinda liked the break because we could redefine some things and worked on some things,” Fenner said. “I think (BC) is just really good and I guess they made more shots than we did tonight. They made some plays down at the end.”
Buckeye Central led from start to finish, but the Eagles stayed within striking distance most of the way.
BC entered the final frame with a 41-29 lead, but Crawford hit 3-point shots from Rachel Ritzhaupt and Allison Teglovic and a short jumper from Teglovic to cut the lead to five.
From that point on, the Buckettes limited the Eagles to a Danielle Horsley free throw the rest of the way.
Kaple said that BC’s ability to play a 2-3 zone most of the night was the difference.
“(Col. Crawford) had only made 32 3s all season so we felt that they weren’t necessarily willing 3-point shooters,” Kaple said. “We encouraged them to do that and they made four or five in the second half. They made shots but it was what we wanted them to do. We’ll live with that, I think.”
The Buckettes shot the basketball well, hitting 20 of 36 shots from the floor, but BC shot it only four times in the final frame, as it took the air out of the ball.
In that final 3:05 of the game, Claudia Pifher knocked down a free throw, post Lexi Evak added a layup, point guard Taylor Ratliff dropped two free throws and Courtney Pifher added two free throws to seal it.
Kaple said that being patient was part of the game plan.
“We just kinda talked about taking good shots and they weren’t going to come out and guard us,” Kaple said. “We had a 10 to 12-point lead so there was no reason to attack the basket with a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter, so it was kind of intentional, so we were kinda taking what they gave us.”
Fenner said that her team had opportunities to come all the way back.
“I thought there was three or four possessions in a row where we could get some things done and had some good looks at it, it just didn’t go in,” Fenner said.
Kaple said he was extremely impressed with the way the Eagles played on defense.
“(Col. Crawford) took away a lot of our stuff,” Kaple said. “We had different people step up. Taylor (Ratliff) had a good first half and Courtney had a good second half. Lexi had a good second half as well. We kinda challenged her at the half to get every rebound she could in the second half, and it was kinda good karma that good things happened on the other end of the floor as well.”
Courtney Pifher led the Buckettes with 14 points, Ratliff added 12 and Evak had 10.
Teglovic paced the Eagles with 11 and Ritzhaupt finished with 10.
Fenner said that her team didn’t take advantage of chances either time against the Buckettes.
“The ball just didn’t go in,” Fenner said. “We had our shots and our opportunities, and the ball just didn’t go in.
“We made some defensive mistakes over there. We’ve won 14 ball games because we can defend people and our chemistry is great and we play as a team. We just didn’t make enough shots tonight.”
The Buckettes, who were state semifinalists and finished 26-2 a year ago, open tournament play on Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. at Shelby High School against the winner of the Mansfield Christian-Mohawk game. Col. Crawford opens on Feb. 23 at 6:15 p.m. against the winner of the Western Reserve-Bucyrus game at Willard High School.
Despite losing several players from the state team, Kaple said that his team has played very well.
“For us to go 19-3, maybe people didn’t think we would do that with the players we lost last year, so I’m super proud of what we have accomplished this season, but now the real season starts,” Kaple said.
Box score
Buckeye Central 11 13 17 11 — 52
Colonel Crawford 4 10 15 12 — 41
Buckeye Central (19-3, 14-2 N10): Shots 20-36; 3-pt. shots 2 (Taylor Ratliff 2); Free throws 10-15; Rebounds 24; Turnovers 16. Scoring: Courtney Pifher 2 2 6, Taylor Ratliff 4 2 12, Claudia Pifher 6 2 14, Lexi Evak 4 2 10, Kyleigh Brown 3 0 6, Elizabeth Heydinger 1 2 4.
Colonel Crawford (14-8, 8-8 N10): Shots 17-43; 3-pt. shots 5 (Rachel Ritzhaupt 2, Theresa Dzugan, Kaylyn Risner, Allison Teglovic); Free throws 2-4; Rebounds 18; Turnovers 11. Scoring: Danielle Horsley 3 1 7, Theresa Dzugan 1 0 3, Rachel Ritzhaupt 4 0 10, Cierra Pfeifer 1 1 3, Kaylyn Risner 2 1 7, Allison Teglovic 5 0 11.
JV: Colonel Crawford 44-30.