NEW WASHINGTON — The two-week Christmas break seemed to have been a great benefit for Buckeye Central senior guard Nevaeh Metzger.

Metzger said that getting away from school and concentrating on basketball was the difference for her.

The star guard scored 13 of her season-high 24 points in the second half as the Buckettes finally pulled away from Bucyrus, 46-34, Tuesday night.

Metzger knocked down four 3-point shots in the game, as the Buckettes took control of the game in the fourth period.

“I was just feeling good coming off from the break,” Metzger said. “Having that time off to rest. We were off for two weeks, but just having that break from school seemed to help.

“Just coming off my hands, it was really good,” Metzger added. “I felt like it was going to go in.”

With the win, BC improved to 4-8 overall, 2-6 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, while Bucyrus fell to 0-12, 0-8 in the conference.

Buckeye Central edged Bucyrus, 44-42 back on Nov. 26 and the Lady Red gave BC all it had again Tuesday night.

Both Buckeye coach Phil Loy and Bucyrus coach Brian Seybert felt that the Lady Red are a much better basketball team than their record would indicate.

“(Bucyrus) can be a tough matchup,” Loy said. “They posted us up quite a bit and I thought we did a decent job with that. We never could pull away.

“It was the same way at their place. We would get up nine or 11 and they would come right back. We have things that are coming slowly, we’re just not sure it’s coming in time.”

Seybert also felt that his team played its best four quarters of the year.

“We have too many quarters where we just go stale,” Seybert said. “Limited scoring and then the other teams take too much of a separation from us.

“Tonight, I thought we played our best four quarters of the season. They made baskets and some of the shots we took were very good shots, but they just didn’t go in,” Seybert added.

The entire first half was nip-and-tuck. Neither team led by more than four points.

Bucyrus freshman Savannah Clark knocked down a three late in the frame to give the Lady Red a 9-7 lead, but BC’s Aleyse Siefert scored with 1:44 left in the period and game was tied at 9-9 after one.

The second period was much of the same. Metzger drilled a three to give the Buckettes a 15-13 lead before Clark responded with a basket to tie the game.

Grace Collene scored four points, sandwiched around a three-point play from the Lady Red’s Victoria Stang, to take a 19-18 lead with 1:23 left. Metzger hit a three right before the end of the half, allowing the Buckettes to take a 22-18 lead into halftime.

“At the end of the half, we were down four,” Seybert said. “It was a two-possession game. They separated a little bit in the third and we closed it down again. It was a two-possession game again with less than a minute. We got a little going, but then missed basket here and there and a turnover here and there.”

Buckeye held a nine-point lead 28-19 with four minutes left in the half on a Collene basket before the Lady Red came back. Clark knocked rained in another three and Marissa Middleton scored on a free throw and a basket as Buckeye held a 30-26 lead, entering the final frame.

But the Buckettes re-took control of the game in the fourth. Collene hit a three and a six-footer in the lane before Metzger dropped a three from the top of the key, giving the Buckettes a 38-29 lead.

Metzger scored on a nice drive to the basket, Siefert added two free throws, and BC held a 42-29 lead.

Bucyrus’ Malina Rowland dropped a 3 to cut the lead to 10, but that was as close as the Lady Red could come.

Metzger was clearly the dominant player on the night, but Collene backed her up with 14 and Siefert added eight.

“(Metzger) had a great night,” Loy said. “We ask a lot of her. Defensively for us; pressuring the ball, but, for her to give us 24 points. She didn’t force it tonight. She came off of screens, she got to the basket. She hasn’t been really on the way she’s capable of, but I thought she did a really good job tonight.

“I thought all the girls played well. We had some breakdowns, but I thought we shot the ball pretty decent. We shot the ball well the foul line.”

“Credit to Nevaeh, she had the night of her life,” Seybert said. “She made shots. It wasn’t like we didn’t know where she was. There were a few shots that she made where we were right in her hip pocket.”

Clark scored 10 points to pace the Lady Red while Middleton added seven more.

“They’re a tough team,” Seybert said. “Credit to them. They play solid, good defense. They have three seniors who step right up and go at it.”

Box score

Bucyrus                      9        9       8       8 — 34

Buckeye Central        9      13       8     16 — 46

Bucyrus (0-12, 0-8 N10): Shots 11-36; 3-pt. shots 5 (Malina Rowland 2, Savannah Clark 2, Karlee Shull); Free throws 6-11; Rebounds 21; Turnovers 12. Scoring: Karlee Shull 1 0 3, Reese Garvin 0 5 5, Victoria Stang 1 1 3, Marissa Middleton 3 1 7, Malina Rowland 2 0 6, Savannah Clark 4 0 10.

Buckeye Central (4-8, 2-6 N10): Shots 15-46; 3-pt. shots 7 (Nevaeh Metzger 4, Grace Collene 3); Free throws 9-11; Rebounds 33; Turnovers 9. Scoring: Alyese Siefert 2 4 8, Grace Collene 5 1 14, Nevaeh Metzger 8 4 24.

JV: Buckeye Central 12-9 (2 quarters).