Three-peat: Buckettes clinch share of Northern 10 title in win over Upper Sandusky
NEW WASHINGTON — The stage was set for five special performances.
With the Northern 10 title up for grabs on Senior Night, Buckeye Central's five seniors all stepped up when called upon to lead the Buckettes to a 42-37 win over Upper Sandusky and clinch at least a share of the league title for the third consecutive season.
"I know it's tough to play on Senior Night because of the emotions, your basketball career is coming to an end," BC coach Abram Kaple said. "But I thought Kennedy (Deppen) was phenomenal and Ryley (Kantzer) did a great job handling adversity. All five of them did their job, and the seven or eight we played — whether it was 30 seconds or 32 minutes — everyone did what they were supposed to. It's a good win against a good team."
Throughout the season Kaple has stressed the importance of roles. And that belief was never more apparent than Friday night against the Rams.
"In a league as tough as ours, everybody has a job," Kaple said. "Paige (Collene) does the dirty work and gets offensive rebounds, Nevaeh's (Metzger) job is to come in and defend, Sydney (Wurm) and Kate (Siesel) are there to score — everyone did what they were asked to do in their role. Because of that, we're having a lot of team success."
All five seniors elevated their game on more than one occasion. Deppen had one of the best games of her career, leading the way with 14 points, seven rebounds and two steals just a day removed from having missed the two practices leading up to the game due to illness.
"You could tell in the third she was running out of energy, you could see it in her face," Kaple said. "I texted her yesterday and said, 'You're going to have a big game.' She continued to attack the basket, she missed a couple shots but stuck with them through offensive rebounds, had a and-one late and made free throws down the stretch. That's an area she has struggled in, but she spent the extra time in practice at the free-throw line, and it's paying dividends."
Feeling her body wear down as the game went on, Deppen pushed through when the Buckettes needed her the most. Upper Sandusky boasts two bigs in Kaidence Iles (6-foot) and Velourea Stowers (5-foot-11), so Deppen's 6-foot frame was a necessity.
"We knew last time it was a tough game and we knew the implications coming into this," she said. "It's a big game, it's Senior Night, it's for the league title. I knew coming in I had no choice. Even if I was sick, even if I didn't want to be on the floor the whole time, it's something I had to do.
"Inside I knew this was something that was important. I did it for my teammates and I did it for my coach."
Siesel (10 points) provided clutch 3-pointers in the first, third and fourth quarters along with five rebounds and three steals. Kantzer picked up two fouls very early in the first, a third with 2:57 to go in the half and then a fourth with 50.5 on the clock in the third, but persevered with eight points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Wurm provided the spark the team needed in the fourth by nailing a 3, swatting away a ball on the other end on the ensuing Rams possession and hitting free throws down the stretch to finish with five points, three rebounds, three assists and two blocks. And Collene was a menace in the paint with eight rebounds, five offensive, two steals and three points.
"That's what got them their lead because we were guarding so well," Upper Sandusky coach Jerry Vent said. "We knew Collene would get some offensive rebounds for them because of how we were guarding. Our strategy was to slow down their shooters, and I thought we did a good job of that. The offensive rebounds just got us."
Buckeye Central outrebounded the Rams 30-19 with a whopping 15-3 margin on the offensive glass. That helped the Buckettes take a 12-3 lead at the end of one quarter before Upper stormed back to tie the score 16-16 at halftime on a buzzer-beating 3 by Iles.
"Our goal every time we play is to win the first three minutes," Kaple said. "But basketball is a game of runs. Upper wasn't going to come in here, take that run and then fall over. They battled back to tie it at half and tied the majority of the third quarter. Jerry does a great job where you're going to struggle to score points — that's why it was in the 30s because teams are taking away what other teams do.
"As we get closer to the postseason, defense travels, and I know that's our message. You have to be able to guard because some nights you won't hit shots. I thought we made enough plays to win down the stretch."
Clinging onto a one point lead late in the third quarter, Kantzer exited after picking up her fourth foul and in came sophomore Grace Collene, who immediately found the ball in her hands and knocked down a mid-range jumper to give the Buckettes a 26-23 lead heading into the fourth.
"We're maneuvering through foul trouble and Grace Collene, a JV player, comes in and hits a huge shot to put us up three," Kaple said. "Paige worked her freaking tail off to get offensive rebounds, then Kate and Syd each hit a 3 off those because we couldn't get them open on sets, or at least to a point they felt comfortable shooting it."
Two quick 3s by Wurm and Siesel kept the Buckettes ahead, and down the stretch clutch free throws by Wurm, Kantzer and Deppen iced the game. The Buckettes were just 6 of 10 from the free-throw line before closing out a perfect 6 of 6.
"(We) missed some uncharacteristic ones in the first half," Kaple said. "One of our better shooters was there and missed two, but with the game on the line — we've played a ton of basketball and they know what's at stake with a league championship — seniors playing at home capitalized when it mattered."
Buckeye Central can clinch the Northern 10 outright with a win against either Bucyrus next Saturday or Wynford on Feb. 11, with both games on the road.
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Buckeye Central girls clinch share of N10 basketball title
