Buckettes ready for state this weekend

NEW WASHINGTON – Abram Kaple still has last year's regional semifinal loss running through his mind. The fourth-year Buckeye Central coach isn't dwelling on it, but it certainly fueled the Buckettes to what has happened this season. No. 4 BC (26-1) enters Friday's state semifinal against No. 5 Waterford (24-3) playing its best basketball and the Buckettes hope Friday isn't their last game of the season. "The expectation was definitely there to win a regional title," Kaple said. "The conversation started creeping up towards late February or even early February. It was definitely a goal of ours and something we thought was within reach. After the district final, I thought we had a different level of focus than we had last year. The conversation was very much to remember that feeling against Columbus Grove. We thought maybe we were the better team, but we let a 12-point lead slip away." Defense has been the catalyst for Buckeye Central this season. The Buckettes have only allowed more than 50 points in a game once this season. That came in a 71-55 loss at Shelby on Jan. 4. Shelby finished the season as the No. 1 team in Division II and advanced to the regional finals last week. "I think our defense has been really sound," Kaple said. "We had a conversation when we were at Upper Sandusky. We had just played Carey and had given up 49 points, which to us was a little too much. We told them that if they wanted to do what they say they wanted to do, we were going to have to get better and focus on every single possession on the defensive end. We've only given up more than 40 points once since that game." Kaple pointed to a tough 38-35 win over Old Fort just a week prior as one of the toughest wins Buckeye Central had this year. It was the only win the Buckettes had by single digits this season. "The Old Fort game was competitive," Kaple said. "We trailed throughout most of the game and didn't take our first lead until under three minutes to go. That was without Claudia (Pifher) at a neutral site and that was good for us. We can reflect back now on that adversity." Pifher missed the first 11 games of the season, including the Shelby loss, but returned in Buckeye Central's 59-29 win at Wynford. She leads the team at 19.8 points per game while knocking down almost half (40 of 82) of the 3-pointers she has attempted. She's hitting 88.9% of her free throws (64 of 72) and recently passed Jenna Karl for the most points scored in program history. "Not that we wanted to miss her for 11 games, but it's arguably the best thing that's happened to our team," Kaple said. "People were forced to step up and do different things. It gave her a sense of what the game really means to her. She had accolades individually that she wanted to accomplish. It kept her in attack mode to be able to reach those. We've talked about getting to the Final Four ever since she was a freshman. We've been close." Fellow senior Emily Siesel also noted that the younger players – such as juniors Kate Siesel, Kennedy Deppen, Paige Collene, Ryley Kantzer, and Sydney Wurm – had to fill roles with Pifher out and that has helped mold the team. "Some of those younger girls played roles that maybe they weren't prepared to play," Emily Siesel said. "They definitely exceeded those expectations and stepped up to their role. I think that's really paying off now. A lot of players are stepping up in these big games doing really great things." Siesel is second on the team at 18.1 points per game. She tops the Buckettes with 6.4 steals and 5.3 assists per night. Her defensive prowess is the catalyst for a tough Buckeye Central defense. "I think we've done a really good job this year with our defense," Siesel said. "Personally, my favorite part is playing defense. Getting everyone on the same page with our zone and press, it's definitely something we've all done a lot better on. Toward the end of the season, the defense has really picked up. I think that's essentially why in some of these games, we're able to beat teams so good." All told, BC is allowing just 32.0 points per game. Buckeye Central is averaging almost 14 steals a game while forcing a total of 23.3 turnovers a night. "It's definitely the total package," Kaple said. "Emily starts that up front with her pressure on the ballhandlers. We feel that we can get teams to move a little faster than what they probably want to. Emily is definitely a driving factor behind that. Ryley does a really good job typically on their off-guard. Claudia is so versatile as to what she brings. Julia (Evak), Paige and Kennedy have done a good job. We've been stressing post defense for seven or eight weeks and we've come a long way with that in terms of being more physical." Waterford has won district titles in 12 of the last 13 years. The Wildcats have only allowed more than 35 points once in their last nine games. Through 23 games, Mackenzie Suprano was scoring 13.8 points per game while Cara Taylor averaged 11.6 points a contest. "They rely very heavily on guard pressure, so they're similar to us," Kaple said. "They trap and do a variety of different zone presses. They're a little bit smaller, but they're scrappy. We used the comparison that they have four (Seneca East senior) Makenna Depinet's running around the floor from a defensive standpoint. They gamble and they like to be in passing lanes." Avery Wagner averaged 6.5 rebounds per game while Taylor added 4.4 rebounds and 2.83 assists per game. "They have some good size inside," Kaple said. "They have a 6-foot-4 freshman (Wagner) that starts. She's a rim protector. We're going to have to take care of the basketball if we want to be in a position to win. Limiting turnovers is definitely the key for our chances this weekend." The winner of Friday's semifinal will take on either No. 3 New Knoxville (26-2) or No. 10 Cincinnati Country Day (21-5), who knocked off No. 1 Fort Loramie and No. 2 Tri-Village in the regional round. The state championship game is slated for Saturday at 5:15 p.m. "Early in the week last week, I had all the girls write a one-page paper on what it would mean to you to go to state," Kaple said. "Whether it's for your family or friends or for yourself or whatever drives you. I thought that was really good to have some internal reflection and understand why we want this to happen as opposed to just wanting to go to state." The Buckettes are going to enjoy the experience this weekend, but have just one focus. "It's a new venue and it's a new team, but the goals remain the same," Kaple said. "That's something we're going to have to continue to preach to stay level-headed. We're going to soak in the moment, but at the same time, it's not a fun trip. It's very much that we're going down there to win basketball games. That's what our job is."