| (Photo: Andrew Weber/Sentinel-Tribune) |
PERRYSBURG — Perrysburg is back in control of its own destiny.
The Yellow Jacket girls played perhaps their best game of the season, defeating league-leading Northview
59-53 at home Saturday night.
With the win Perrysburg improves to 15-2 overall and 10-1 in the Northern Lakes League, handing Northview
its first NLL loss of the season.
Perrysburg can clinch at least a share of the NLL title by winning its final three league games.
“It’s a huge win for us. Northview’s been a league power and they’re always up in the top one or two
(teams in the NLL),” Perrysburg coach Todd Sims said.
“When you’re playing Northview you have to fight with them,” Sims added. “It’s not all about X’s and O’s
… If you’re not willing to scrap and fight with them then it’s going to be a long night, and we
fought.”
Kelsea Newman had an excellent all-around game for the ’Jackets, finishing with a game-high 22 points,
eight rebounds, and five blocked shots.
“She played very well. She’s a very good player. She’s getting much better at breaking down people off
the dribble,” said Sims of Newman, who made four 3-pointers in the game and scored 14 points in the
second half. “She’s always been a very good 3-point shooter, but she played a great all-around game
tonight.”
“Kelsea had her way all night long,” Northview coach Jerry Sigler said. “I thought we had a pretty good
plan to stop her, but we didn’t.”
Perrysburg’s post tandem of seniors Nicole Delas and Kayla VanderVlucht also came up big, combining for
26 points.
“(Delas and VanderVlucht) were huge,” Sims said. “Kelsea is our leading scorer, but we are a pretty
balanced team. We don’t rely just on her or anyone else to score. We like everybody to touch the ball,
everybody to contribute. We are a true team.”
From the start, Perrysburg looked much more confident and aggressive than in its 56-40 loss at Northview
on Jan. 14.
The ’Jackets jumped out to a 21-15 lead after the first quarter, hitting 9-of-14 (64 percent) field goals
in the first eight minutes.
Perrysburg trailed 15-10 at the 2:49 mark of the first, but went on a 13-0 run that was capped by a Delas
basket to start the second quarter and the ’Jackets led 23-15, their largest lead of the game.
“This was extremely important to us. We all really wanted to win this game,” Newman said. “We felt like
we had something to prove because we definitely knew we had the potential to beat them.
“We all played really, really well,” she added. “We went into this game thinking everybody has to play
their game, and we went in there and we did.”
Northview, which only committed two turnovers in the first half, battled back and trailed 27-26 at
halftime.
The game continued to go back-and-forth in the third quarter, with Perrysburg taking a 42-40 lead into
the fourth after Taylor Knight found Delas open on a nice pass for a basket just as the third quarter
buzzer sounded.
Perrysburg never trailed in the fourth quarter, and made 10-of-15 free throws in the second half to seal
the win.
Only six players played in the game for Northview (15-3 overall), with Miriam Justinger leading the way
with 16 points. Jessica Jessing and Skylar Rose each added 12 points.
“Hats off to Todd. He had them well-prepared and they just physically manhandled us,” Sigler said. “I
think it brings out the best in them. It should bring out the best in us, and it did the first (game),
but it didn’t bring out the best tonight. I think we’re a better team than we played tonight.”
Perrysburg has three NLL games this week, the final week of the regular season. The ’Jackets play a
makeup game at Anthony Wayne on Monday, then at Springfield on Tuesday and at home against Rossford on
Saturday.
“Not to sound like a coach, but we can celebrate tonight,” Sims said. “But we play Anthony Wayne on
Monday so we’ve got to focus on Anthony Wayne because they’re a very good team also.”
Perrysburg won the junior varsity game, 36-30. Abby Sattler led the ’Jackets, now 17-0 overall, with nine
points.
PERRYSBURG 59, NORTHVIEW 53
NORTHVIEW
Busby, 0-1-0—3; Rose, 3-1-3—12; Justinger, 6-4—16; McCoy, 1-0—2; Sohasky, 3-2—8; Jessing, 4-4—12. TOTALS:
17-2-13—53.
PERRYSBURG
K. Tudor, 0-1-4—7; Knight, 1-0—2; B. Tudor, 0-1—1; Matolyak, 0-1—1; Treece, 0-0—0; Delas, 6-2—14; Newman,
4-4-2—22; VanderVlucht, 6-0—12. TOTALS: 17-5-10—59.
NORTHVIEW
15
11
14
13
—53
PERRYSBURG
21
6
15
17
—59
Junior varsity: Perrysburg, 36-30.
