Buckettes cruise to sectional title

BASCOM — After being rewarded with a No. 2 seed following an impressive 18-4 season, Buckeye Central took a first-round bye and faced Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic in the sectional championship after the Panthers beat Plymouth in the semifinal earlier in the week.

The extra rest must've been exactly what the Buckettes needed as they clicked on all cylinders and crushed the Panthers 82-35 en route to being crowned sectional champions and advancing to districts next week.

"My kids really followed the game plan," Buckeye Central coach Greg Moore said. "I couldn't be happier about that, but that's what you get when you have (an experienced team)."

Buckeye Central struck first with a 3-pointer from Jenna Karl, but the Panthers came back to score the next six points. After that, the Buckettes went on a 48-7 run to close the half.

"We've always had the mentality to keep playing even when we're down," Isabelle Biglin said. "We just came back like we normally do."

Biglin, along with Karl and Haley Green had a big first half combining for 37 of the team's 51 points. She would add six more in the second half as Moore started to rotate the squad to not only give the starters and regulars ample rest, but give some of the deeper bench players minutes in the tournament in case they're called upon in the upcoming games.

The Buckettes went on to outscore the Panthers in the second half 31-22 to cap off an impressive 47-point win. Probably the most impressive part of the win was the fact Buckeye Central shot nearly 60 percent from the field.

"We can shoot it," Moore said. "Our kids just came out and played basketball and we got to them.

"We had a nice five-game spell we played with wins and you hate to break that up (with a break), but with this kind of focus, we're all right."

Buckeye Central's defense was stifling all night and was a major reason behind the lack of scoring from the Panthers. Moore said the team's Achilles' heel was shooting from the outside, so his game plan was to force them to shoot over his girls, something they struggled with all night, and the Buckettes were able to grab defensive boards and start their offense from that.

About that offense, nine players scored for the Buckettes and balanced scoring is something Moore has stressed since the first week of the season. Seeing that many girls score and multiple finish in double digits only benefits the team moving forward. Karl finished with a game-high 25 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals, Biglin added 13 points and eight rebounds, Green and Courtney Pifher chipped in 11 points each, Pifher hauling in 10 rebounds in the process for a double-double.

"A lot of teams will try to take Jenna away, but you can't do that because we have other people than can score, we're not one dimensional," Moore said. "Jenna averages 15 (points), but she doesn't everything else for us too. We don't need her to score 25 points, but it's nice (when she does)."

Kiersten Near and Ashley Huntley scored seven points each to pace the Panthers, Daniela Ramon added six, Tre'Jeen McCarty had five.

During the week, Moore admitted he was second guessing himself about taking the bye, but in hindsight, he didn't have much to worry about.

"There was a time I was really kicking myself in the butt ... (because) I wasn't sure that we should've not played Tuesday, but when you have four seniors starting and Jenna starting for her third year, you just trust them," Moore said. "We took the bye, had a couple days rest and just shot the ball a lot."

Up next for Buckeye Central is No. 4 Danbury on Thursday in the district semifinal. The game will be held at Seneca East High School with tipoff set for 6:15 p.m.

"We've just got to get ready to play," Moore said. "Tomorrow night, we'll start game planning already."

zholden@bucyrustelegraphforum.com

419-617-6018

Twitter: @Zachary_Holden