ELIDA — Columbus Grove coach Brian Schroeder channeled his best Pat O’Brien giving his ‘Win one for the Gipper’ speech to the Notre Dame football team in the movie “Knute Rockne All American.”
“At halftime, we addressed them and said, ‘This is it. We’ve got 16 minutes and we need all you’ve got,’” Schroeder said. “I thought our focus and intensity was great coming out in the second half, even being down eight.”
The Bulldogs were evidently motivated by the coach’s speech. Trailing 26-18 at halftime, Columbus Grove outscored Buckeye Central 29-12 in the second half to win the Division IV regional semifinal at Elida Fieldhouse, 47-38.
“They turned things up pressure-wise,” Buckeye Central coach Abram Kaple said. “I thought we started to play a little bit not to lose as opposed to playing to win.”
Buckeye Central (23-3) — making its fifth straight regional appearance — played the first half like the veterans they were. The Buckettes took it the Bulldogs early on, using a 17-point second quarter to build its eight-point cushion at intermission.
BC riddled the Columbus Grove 2-3 zone in the second period, hitting five 3-points shots on six attempts to expand a 9-6 first quarter lead to eight. Claudia Pifher and Taylor Ratliff each had a pair of 3s, and Kendra Ackerman had one.
But the Bulldogs flipped the table in the second half.
“I thought a big difference for us defensively in the second half, I thought we did a better job of covering their shooters,” Schroeder said. “We were really quicker on the perimeter. They still got some free looks that didn’t go down. But I thought we did a better job of contesting and kind of rushing their shooters.”
The third quarter swung the door open for Columbus Grove (19-7). The Buckettes hit only one of eight 3-point attempts — that by Pifher early in the quarter to give Buckeye Central its biggest lead of the night at 29-18.
From there, however, it was all Bulldogs. Columbus Grove went on a 9-0 run to the end of the frame to pull within 29-27.
“We got a little loose with the ball which created some easy runouts for them,” Kaple said. “And in a game like this, where there is crowd impact, momentum can swing pretty quickly and that’s kind of what happened.”
The game was obviously affected when Buckeye Central senior Kyleigh Brown was forced to leave the game with a knee injury. Brown had scored eight points in the first half before exiting midway through the second quarter.
“My heart goes out to a kid like that, a senior, a really good player,” Schroeder said. “It undoubtedly has to affect her teammates who have been playing with her ever since junior high or before. To see a girl go down — you hate to see that anytime, but especially in a tournament atmosphere like this.”
“You saw the first eight minutes. She was having the best game she’s had all year,” Kaple said. “When you have a kid like Kyleigh — just her personality does a lot for the team — it stinks losing a teammate like that and she was playing well. It took a little wind out of our sails.”
The Bulldogs kept the pedal to the metal in the fourth quarter. After Pifher scored twice in the lane for Buckeye Central, to push the Buckettes’ lead back to 33-27, Columbus Grove reeled off the net 16 points to open a 43-33 lead.
Aiding the run was Kenzie King, who was in the midst of hitting 12 of 12 free throws down the stretch to expand the Bulldogs’ lead and keep the Buckettes at bay.
“Kenzie has been huge for us,” Schroeder said. “She’s started since day one of her freshman year. So, she’s been in maybe not quite this big of game but in games similar to that during the regular season. We definitely know who we want to have the ball at the end of games. She kind of iced the Kalida game for us in the district finals and she did the same thing tonight.”
King’s 12 free throws accounted for over half of the Bulldogs’ 20 fourth-quarter points. Buckeye Central hit only four of ten shots in the final eight minutes and never attempted a free throw the entire game.
Erin Downing led all scorers with 18 points for Columbus Grove and King added 15. Downing grabbed nine rebounds.
“Those two are tough and they’re so well-coached,” Kaple said. “They’re just so fundamental, even all the way down to the pivots and the way they pass the basketball. They play in a tough league. They play some tough non-league competition as well. It’s good basketball here. Hats off to them. We had our opportunities and we lost to a good team.”
Pifher led the Buckettes with 15 points and Ratliff concluded here career with nine. Each had four rebounds.
In addition to Ratliff, Kaple says goodbye to seniors Kendra Ackerman and Brown. He was emotional when discussing their departure.
“I honestly think that’s worse than losing the game — the inability to coach those three anymore,” Kaple said. “Taylor has 94 career wins and has played in over 100 games. That stat alone — to play over 100 games — just speaks to how good of a plyer she is.
“Kendra, being a primary volleyball player, the growth she’s had in the last two years,” Kaple continued. “Being a major contributor and making shots, timely shots in big moments.
“Kyleigh, missing last year, being able to come back, shaking off the rust early on. But after the first of the year, January on, she really turned the corner and started to become that player she was her sophomore year.”
Columbus Grove advances to the regional championship game against Convoy Crestview with the winner advancing to the state Final Four. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. back at Elida Fieldhouse.
Box score
Columbus Grove 6 12 9 20 — 47
Buckeye Central 9 17 3 9 — 38
Columbus Grove (19-7): Shots 15-39; 3-pt. shots 3-17 (Erin Downing, Kenzie King, Shay Schroeder); Free throws 14-15; Rebounds 30 (Erin Downing 12); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Jaylen Sautter 2 1 5, Brynn Fortman 1 0 2, Erin Downing 8 1 18, Sage Clement 1 0 2, Shay Schroeder 2 0 5, Kenzie King 1 12 15.
Buckeye Central (23-3): Shots 15-42; 3-pt. shots 8-23 (Claudia Pifher 3, Taylor Ratliff 3, Kendra Ackerman, Emily Siesel); Free throws 0-0; Rebounds 19 (Claudia Pifher 4, Taylor Ratliff 4); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Kendra Ackerman 1 0 3, Claudia Pifher 6 0 15, Emily Siesel 1 0 3, Taylor Ratliff 3 0 9, Kyleigh Brown 4 0 8.