PERRYSBURG — Perrysburg senior Bella Vaillant scored a hook shot at the buzzer to propel the Yellow
Jackets over Toledo Christian 54-52 in overtime on Thursday.
The shot was the culmination of an 11-point fourth quarter comeback for the Yellow Jackets on senior
night.
“It is great for the seniors. Any time you win a game is great but especially when you beat a great team
like they are. Then to come back like that on senior night is obviously great for the seniors and
everybody’s excited in the locker room,” Perrysburg head coach Todd Sims said.
With the senior night victory Perrysburg moves to 9-3 overall. Toledo Christian falls to 7-4.
The game was tied at 48 in the fourth quarter after a furious comeback by the Yellow Jackets gave them
the ball with the chance to win the game. Marissa Thomas’ corner three would go just long, though, and
the game went to overtime.
Both teams would trade shots in the overtime period and a physical post battle between Vaillant and
Toledo Christian’s Mackenzie Royal-Davis came to a head when Royal-Davis fouled out with 1:30 left in
overtime.
Her absence ultimately led to Sims electing to give Vaillant the final shot.
“That was part of it. We still may have done that anyways, I’m not sure exactly. But for sure I knew when
she fouled out they were definitely smaller inside and she is tough to guard,” he said.
Vaillant would put up a double-double on the night, scoring 17 points and grabbing 16 rebounds to lead
the Yellow Jackets in both categories. Royal-Davis would end with 11 points and four rebounds.
Things started out well for the Yellow Jackets and in particular for senior Jada Wilhelms. She was very
efficient in the first quarter going 2 of 2 from beyond the arc. The Yellow Jackets led 13-8 after one
quarter.
The physicality of the game started to ramp up in the second quarter, as Vaillant and Royal-Davis were
constantly fighting for position down low.
In the first half Vaillant won that battle as she had eight points and was very active on the boards
collecting six rebounds, three of those coming on the offensive side. Royal-Davis had five points and
one rebound. She went to the bench midway through the second quarter with two fouls, both coming while
fighting for position with Vaillant.
Royal-Davis’ sister Madison Royal-Davis, who is the leader of the team and committed to play Division I
basketball at Butler, was held quiet in the first half, scoring only five points.
That would change in the third quarter.
Madison Royal-Davis wenton her own 5-0 run to start the second half.
The battle down low continued on into the second half and this time it would be Vaillant’s turn to take a
seat on the bench with three fouls.
This led to multiple buckets by both Madison and Mackenzie Royal-Davis down low, as Madison put up 10
points just in the third quarter. This stretched the Eagle lead out to 42-31 entering the final period
of play.
Madison Royal-Davis ended the night with 20 points and six rebounds.
“We didn’t help, she just shot layups. It wasn’t like she was shooting pullups and stuff like that they
are all layups,” Sims said. “The third quarter is as bad as we can play I think, I hope. Because you
can’t get much worse than that. We looked lost on offense, we weren’t doing anything on defense but I’m
glad we stuck in there and came back.”
The Yellow Jackets figured it out in the fourth quarter. In the first five minutes of the quarter they
went on a 9-4 run, in part due to Vaillant’s reappearance in the lineup. Marissa Thomas came up with a
few key steals down the stretch for the Yellow Jackets, too.
Wilhelms got back in the action, making several key layups in the late comeback. She finished with 14
points. Thomas had three steals.
Next up for the Yellow Jackets will be a road contest against Central Catholic on Saturday.