The Big Walnut girls basketball team didn’t get off to the best start — cold shooting, an aggressive Canal Winchester defense and foul trouble to one of its best players certainly didn’t help — but once it got rolling, surged in front and held on late to nab a key 43-37 OCC-Capital Division win Friday night in Sunbury.

The Golden Eagles (13-2, 7-1), who picked up their 12th straight win, trailed 18-15 at halftime.

The deficit didn’t last long, though, as Denza Allen, forced to sit the bulk of the first half after picking up her second foul less than two minutes into the game, opened the third quarter with a hoop.

Teagan Ng scored off a nice find from Remi Largent a few possessions later, giving Big Walnut a 19-18 edge with 5:59 left in the third.

The Indians (11-3, 6-2), who beat BW 51-39 in the second game of the season, answered in the form of a hoop from Michaela Dean-Dunn, but Allen set up Ng for an easy hoop with a hustle play, saving a ball that looked destined to head out of bounds before flipping it to Ng, who took care of the rest.

The Eagles took off from there, doubling up Canal 8-4 the rest of the quarter to take a 29-25 lead into the final eight minutes of action.

The Indians got within three when London Johnson scored in transition midway through the fourth, but Largent, just a freshman, calmly connected on a three at the other end to help the Eagles take control for good.

Pierce Cephas split a pair of free throws to make it a 40-31 game with 1:29 left, but, forced to foul, Canal sent Largent to the line. Largent took care of the rest, hitting both to all but seal the deal.

Olentangy Liberty 39, Dublin Jerome 24

The Patriots used a 15-0 first quarter to set the tone en route to a solid non-league win over the visiting Celtics Friday night in Powell.

Claire Mikola finished with a game-best 12 points while Gigi Bower had nine in the win.

FROM SATURDAY

Buckeye Valley pitched a fourth-quarter shutout for the second game in a row Saturday night, this time taking care of host Worthington Christian 32-21 to improve to 10-2 overall and 7-0 atop the CBL standings.

The Barons, who trailed by a point after a tight first quarter, won the second 14-7 to take control for good.

The defenses took over from there, with both teams combining for just 19 second-half points.

Ella Hazelrigg led BV with six points while Carlie Osborne and Molly Meier chipped in six and five, respectively.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Buckeye Valley, already up 28-21 at halftime, used a 19-11 third to take control en route to a 54-40 CBL win over visiting Bexley Friday night in Delaware.

Zane Melvin and Marcus Hemphill led the charge, finishing with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Hemphill also chipped in a team-best five assists while Dane Fisher and Le’Den Jones had six rebounds apiece.

Delaware Hayes 60, Franklin Heights 43

The Pacers picked up another league win Friday, blanking the host Falcons in the first quarter and limiting them to just seven first-half points.

Carter Piatt-Brown, Jake Lowman, Jesse Burris and Landon Vanderwarker hit threes as Hayes rolled out to a 16-0 lead after one.

Burris finished with 14 points while Jeremiah Russell had 13 in the win.

Also: Olentangy Berlin 68, Whitehall-Yearling 50; Olentangy Orange 69, Thomas Worthington 38; Olentangy 54, Dublin Jerome 53; Big Walnut 69, Canal Winchester 29.

FROM SATURDAY

Olentangy Berlin 52, Columbus Academy 46.