PHOTO PROVIDED Bucktail's Makenzie Wagner looks to keep the ball in bounds as Meadowbrook Christian's Audrey Millet looks to avoid a collision on Thursday night.

Bucktail’s girls basketball team jumped out to a 12-6 lead against No. 8th-ranked Meadowbrook Christian on Thursday evening, but the upset of the season was avoided as Meadowbrook used a 17-4 second quarter to regain control and go on to the eventual 44-32 win.

Despite the loss, Bucktail coach Sue Ellen Wagner appreciated the way that her team battled the now 13-0 Meadowbrook powerhouse.

“They played well, they really did,” Wagner said of her team. “They are ranked No. 1 in (Class) A, they’re undefeated and I honestly feel that this is a win in my book.”

Mak Wagner scored seven points, Matti Mason added three as Bucktail pulled ahead early. Even as the top rank team started to come back, the Bucks initially stood toe to toe with their opponents.

“We played well. We regained momentum there late in the game in an obvious case of our girls not giving up,” coach Wagner said as her team outscored Meadowbrook in the fourth as well as the first.

The Bucks had played at Northwest on Wednesday night, not arriving home until midnight before turning around and hosting Meadowbrook the next evening.

Kendall Wagner hit a three at the 4:23 mark in the second quarter to give her team back the lead at 16-15, but that was when the favorites started to flex their muscle.

Madalyn Fasnacht scored 9 points in the second quarter as her team started to pull away. At one point in the third the visitors were up 34-20 before Bucktail started hitting their shots again.

Meadowbrook had just four players register points, but three of those hit double digits in Fasnacht’s game high 16, Kailey Devlin’s 14 and Audrey Millett’s 12.

Mak Wagner led Bucktail with 13 points while sister Kendall added 7 points and 10 rebounds.

The loss puts the Bucks back at 7-7 with a trip to Benton on Saturday, where they will play the 6 p.m. with the Bucktail boys then playing at 7:30 p.m.

“Benton is another aggressive team, we will have to out-hustle them and I know we can do just that, we’re looking forward to the match-up” said Wagner.

MEADOWBROOK (44)

M. Fasnacht 6 2-2 16; K. Devlin 5 4-5 14; A. Smith 6 0-0 12; H. Millett 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 6-7 44.

BUCKTAIL (32)

Mak Wagner 4 2-3 13; Lola English 2 0-0 4; Alexis Lowery 1 0-0 2; Dezlyn Halpate 0 1-2 1; Matti Mason 2 1-4 5; Kendall Wagner 2 2-8 7. Totals 11 6-17 32.

Meadowbrook 12 4 6 10 — 32

Bucktail 9 17 10 8 — 44

3-point goals: Meadowbrook 2 (Fasnacht 2), Bucktail 4 (M. Wagner 3, K. Wagner 1).