| Perrysburg’s Nicole Delas (white jersey) reaches over Rossford’s Kasey Geraghty to control a rebound. (Photo: Aaron Carpenter/Sentinel-Tribune) |
PERRYSBURG — Although it was the final regular season game of the year for Perrysburg’s girls, it still
had a lot to play for Saturday night.
With a victory over Northern Lakes League foe Rossford and a loss by league-leader Northview, the Yellow
Jackets would have vaulted into a tie for the top spot in the league.
But Perrysburg didn’t get the help it needed. PHOTO GALLERY
Northview
routed Bowling Green 72-45, giving the Yellow Jackets sole possession of second place in the league
standings with its less-than-stellar 36-26 victory over Rossford.
“Obviously, it’s hard to play their (Rossford’s) style,” Perrysburg head coach Todd Sims said. “They slow
the game down and we didn’t treasure the ball enough. We had some unforced turnovers and we were out of
rhythm. The Senior Night doesn’t help. It’s difficult to play on that night. You’re not doing the normal
things you do before a game and its just a little bit awkward. But we gutted it out. If you can not play
well and win, that’s a good thing.”
Perrysburg, 17-3 overall and 12-2 in the NLL, has “lost its rhythm,” according to Sims, since it defeated
Northview earlier in the season to tie for first place in the NLL.
Since that victory, the Yellow Jackets have not played to their potential offensively and it showed on
Saturday.
Perrysburg had only one scorer reach double digits in the contest as it shot just 14-of-43 (33 percent)
from the field while committing 16 turnovers.
But Perrysburg’s player defense was too much for Rossford (8-12, 4-10) to handle as it converted only
11-of-34 (32 percent) of its shots from the floor. The Bulldogs also had 19 turnovers.
“That’s what we’ve hung our hat on here for years. We’ve always been defensive-minded,” Sims said. “You
can always defend. You’re not always going to shoot well and teams are going to maybe slow the ball down
or whatever teams do, but you can always defend. That’s just effort and positioning and we’re pretty
good at that.”
Rossford was limited to having just five players (its starters) contribute on offense.
Junior guard Kasey Geraghty led the Bulldogs with 10 points, including two baskets from beyond the
3-point arc.
Perrysburg held a two-point advantage at halftime but extended its lead to 32-21 midway through the
fourth quarter, and held on for the win largely in thanks to it being able to shoot 4-of-6 from 2-point
range in the final eight minutes.
But the real reason Perrysburg was able to extend its lead came in the third quarter.
The Yellow Jackets hit two 3-point baskets in the third quarter via senior Kendall Tudor and junior
Kelsea Newman.
Newman finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Both teams started slowly and Yellow Jackets found themselves ahead 7-2 after the opening eight minutes,
but the Bulldogs took advantage of Perrysburg’s poor shooting in the first half (6-of-24) and remained
in contention at the break, trailing 16-12.
“We were very happy at halftime,” Rossford head coach Kevin Mitchell said. “That’s exactly what we
wanted. We can’t match up with them (Perrysburg) as far as their length and size. We wanted to control
the tempo and for a good part of the game we were able to do that. If we can hold possessions and be
very efficient offensively then we give ourselves an opportunity. Our kids executed our game plan …
pretty well.”
For Perrysburg, it needs to do the little things such as play good defense, make free throws, and not
turn the ball over in the tournament if it wants to make a serious run as it has the previous two
seasons, Sims said.
“I did say, this phase two of the season is over now. Phase one is the preseason games and the
scrimmages, phase two is the regular season, now we’re on to phase three. We’ve played very well in
phase three the last couple years and we’re going to do it again this year.”
Perrysburg won the junior varsity game, capping a 20-0 season. Samantha Gremler led the Yellow Jackets
with 11 points, and Maddy Perry contributed with 10. Maddy York led Rossford with six points.
PERRYSBURG 36, ROSSFORD 26
ROSSFORD
Hotz, 1-0—2; Jackson, 0-0—0; Kanary, 2-0—4; A. Geraghty, 3-0—6; K. Geraghty, 1-2-2—10; Mitchell, 2-0—4.
TOTALS: 9-2-2—26.
PERRYSBURG
K. Tudor, 0-1-0—3; Knight, 0-0—0; B. Tudor, 1-0—2; Matolyak, 2-2—6; Treece, 1-2—4; Delas, 1-0—2; Newman,
3-1-1—10; VanderVulcht, 4-1—9. TOTALS: 12-2-6—36.
ROSSFORD 2 10 5 9 —26
PERRYSBURG 7 9 10 10 —36
Junior varsity: Perrysburg, 40-12.
