MASSILLON — Making its first regional appearance since 2008, the McDonald High School girls basketball team was looking for more Thursday night in its Division IV semifinal against New Washington Buckeye Central.

The Blue Devils put up a strong second half but eventually fell to the Buckettes, 44-39, after missing a potential tying 3-point shot with 6 seconds left. Taylor Ratliff tacked on the game’s final two points on free throws with 1.7 seconds left.

“We set something up for Sophia (Costantino) at the top of the key, but she got it a little too far away, so we had to reverse the ball, but we still got an open look, even though it was a tough shot,” McDonald coach Amy Dolsak said.

Buckeye Central, which was making its fourth consecutive regional appearance, led the Blue Devils, 24-15, at halftime, but McDonald fought its way back into the game.

“We played well in the second half, but unfortunately, against a team like this, you need to play a full 32 minutes,” said Dolsak, whose team finished 22-3. “We are a young team … and being here the first time, maybe we had some nerves to start the game, but we overcame that and started to play our game and give ourselves a chance. We started to fight a little harder in the second half and focus on the things we needed to do from the start.”

The lead changed hands eight times in the final 5 minutes.

The Blue Devils, who led 6-5 midway through the first period before falling behind by as many as nine points on three separate occasions, eventually caught the Buckettes on Maddy Howard’s bucket with 6:45 remaining, as the score was knotted at 30. Lucy Wolford’s bank shot from the left side made it 32-30, but Ratliff responded with a 3-pointer seconds later for Buckeye Central.

Taylor Tuchek gave McDonald the lead again, but Ratliff’s drive put the Buckettes up 35-34 with 3:22 left. Molly Howard’s 3-pointer gave the Blue Devils a 37-35 lead before Buckeye Central took a 38-37 advantage on a bucket and free throw by Claudia Pifher.

Wolford gave McDonald its final lead at 39-38 with 1:16 on the clock. Pifher followed with a driving bucket with 59 seconds left. The Blue Devils then missed their final two field-goal attempts.

Pifher finished with 19 points, and Ratliff added 17 for the Buckettes.

“We knew we had to stop (Pifher and Ratliff) coming into the game, and I think defensively we did our jobs for the majority of the game, but against players like that, you have to be on them all the time,” Dolsak said. “Sometimes we had some breakdowns that led to open shots, and (Pifher) knocked them down.”

Maddy Howard scored 11 points, all in the second half, to lead McDonald before she fouled out with 20.4 seconds remaining. Molly Howard scored 10 points, and Wolford added nine points.

Buckeye Central (21-5) will play Cornerstone Christian (21-6) in the regional final at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Perry. The Patriots beat Dalton 33-29 in the early semifinal Thursday.