TONTOGANY — Perrysburg was derailed early on the tournament trail last year after a
big late-season run in 2010.
Determined to not let that happen this season, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a
13-3 lead early against Bowling Green Thursday in the Division I district
semifinal at Otsego High School. PHOTO
GALLERY
Bolstered by the early lead, Perrysburg went on to post a 54-44 victory to advance to
Saturday’s district final at Liberty-Benton. The Yellow Jackets, now 18-4, face
Mansfield Senior, a 53-45 winner over Ashland. Bowling Green finishes 16-6.
“Last year we had a little bump in the road. It’s great to be back (in the district
finals),” Perrysburg head coach Todd Sims said. “I’m happy for the seniors; they
really wanted to win this.”
“When we lost to Anthony Wayne last year, it was a tough loss,” Perrysburg senior
Taylor Knight said. “This year our seniors stepped it up, and we are ready to
go.”
Thursday’s matchup was the third this season between the two Northern Lakes League
rivals, and Perrysburg won all three.
“You need to be the best team in the gym on that given night, whether you have beaten
them 20 times or have never beaten them,” Sims said.
“They were better than us tonight,” BG head coach Jeff Nichols said. “We had a nice
season, and we did a lot of nice things. But they (Perrysburg) fought hard and
they deserved the victory.”
With the 9-2 start by Perrysburg and five early turnovers from Bowling Green, the
Yellow Jackets were in control quickly.
“That’s been our game really all year, pressure teams, try to wear them down and use
our bench. We did that great tonight,” Sims said. “We had a great first quarter.
When you score, you can press … We just wanted to attack.”
Perrysburg extended its lead to 19-6 before BG scored the final five points of the
first quarter to trail 19-11 after eight minutes. The Bobcats had nine turnovers
in the first quarter.
“Our press is pretty aggressive. We seem to get a lot of turnovers from it, and we
also score,” Knight said.
The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 30-17 at the half.
“They (BG) are good. Honestly, even at halftime I never let it creep into my mind
that we were going to blow them out,” Sims said. “They have lots of seniors who
have played in lots of games.”
Bowling Green was within 10 points, four different times in the third quarter, but
could never get the key basket to get Perrysburg’s lead into single digits.
“We were running the right plays. We had at least three finishes from different kids
that were at the rim and rolled off,” Nichols said.
Hayley Williford’s 3-pointer cut Perrysburg’s lead to 42-33 less than three minutes
into the final quarter.
Knight then made two free throws and Kelsea Newman made a basket to push the Yellow
Jackets lead back into double digits.
Knight was 6-of-6 from the line in the final quarter to help seal the win.
“In the second half, we played good defense, but again we couldn’t get the ball to go
in the hoop,” Nichols said. “A lot of that is credit to them (Perrysburg); they
play hard defense. They made you play full court the whole game.”
Knight led the Yellow Jackets with 15 points while Newman and Becca Tudor each added
10. Newman and Sarah Baer each had eight rebounds.
Knight also kept busy on the defensive end, covering Williford.
“The plays are called by my coaches,” Knight said. “As soon as we started we had good
rhythm, nice shots, and we also got a lot of offensive rebounds.”
Williford finished with a game-high 20 points, including 12 in the final quarter as
she attempted to rally the Bobcats. Stoner added 13 points. Stoner and Marissa
Milligan each had six rebounds.
It was the final game for nine Bobcat seniors — Stoner, Williford, Milligan, Vivian
Vazquez, Alyssa Kopp, Courtney Thurman, Jamie Bihn, Morgan Sommers, and Ashley
Ford.
“I tried to hold my composure in there (the locker room),” Nichols said. “From the
time they were sophomores until now, they have continually built in wins, and
respectability and these kids have been a large part of it.
“How do you replace nine seniors who have busted their butt since the fifth grade?”

PERRYSBURG 54, BGHS 44
BGHS
Stoner, 5-3—13; Hayley Williford, 2-4-4—20; Vazquez, 1-0—2; Milligan, 2-3—7; Kopp,
0-0—0; Hanna Williford, 0-0—0; Glandorff, 1-0—2; Sommers, 0-0—0; Thurman, 0-0—0;
Bihn, 0-0—0; Ford, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 1-4-10—44.
PERRYSBURG
Knight, 4-7—15; Tudor, 4-2—10; Treece, 3-2—8; Baer, 1-1—3; Newman, 3-1-1—10; Gremler,
1-0—2; Sattler, 0-0—0; Williams, 2-0—4; Perry, 1-0—2; Mufti, 0-0—0; Diehl,
0-0—0; Kaczinski, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 19-1-13—54.
BGHS 11 6 11 16 —44
PERRYSBURG 19 11 8 16 —54