ONTARIO – During a 19-loss season, Plymouth girls basketball coach Eric Breznicki saw his team fall apart too many times. That wasn’t the case Wednesday night, despite a 53-47 loss to Buckeye Central in a girls’ Division IV sectional semifinal basketball game at Ontario High School.
“We didn’t panic when we got down by eight points at the end of the third quarter, like we have sometimes this season with a young team. I am proud of our kids tonight … we came to win,” Breznicki said.
The Big Red (4-19) came out quickly, hitting eight of 11 first quarter shots in building an 18-12 edge against the favored Buckettes. (10-13). BC tied the game at 27 by halftime and built the lead to 42-34 going into the final eight minutes.
That’s when Plymouth roared back, going on a 9-2 run over in just over 90 seconds of the final quarter, cutting the Buckeye Central lead to 44-43 with still 3:53 left to play. The Buckettes, however, went on a quick 6-0 run of their own, dashing the Big Red upset hopes.
“The last six games we have preached to the kids to fight through adversity. At the beginning of the year, when things didn’t go our way, our kids would go into a shell. But there was no quit in our kids tonight. That is a life lesson that I am proud to see as a coach,” Breznicki said.
Buckeye Central coach Greg Moore said his team started slowly, giving Plymouth credit for making that sluggish start happen. “Eric does a great job with his team,” he said. “They are better than a 4-19 team. They scared me.”
Senior post Morgan Fletcher led Plymouth with 15 points. Junior guard Leah Eldridge added 12 and junior Kelsey Breznicki added eight.
Senior wings Brooke Karl and Kilee Kimmel each had 15 points for Buckeye Central. Junior guard Hailey Hildebrand added nine, despite playing on an injured ankle.
After the first quarter, Plymouth’s offense cooled, connecting on just 11 of 36 FG tries over the final 24 minutes. For the game, the Big Red shot 42 percent from the field (10 of 45) and 75 percent at the foul line (9 of 12).
Buckeye Central shot just 33 percent from the field (15 of 46) and 85 percent at the line (17 of 20).
The Buckettes had a 37-28 edge in rebounding, but committed two more turnovers than Plymouth, 15-13.
Buckeye Central advances to the sectional title game Saturday at 8 p.m. at Ontario High School against Colonel Crawford, which upset Mansfield St. Peter’s in the second game on Wednesday night.
