MILLBURY – The basketball tournament trail is a grind, especially when games go to overtime.
That was the case Saturday afternoon at Lake High School when Perrysburg squared off against Toledo Start
with a Division I regional semifinal game on the line.
“The longer you go in the tournament it’s harder to score … it becomes a chess match,” said Perrysburg
head coach Todd Sims.
Junior Macie Stringfellow proved to be the difference-maker for the Yellow Jackets, when she scored after
her shot had been blocked just before the buzzer sounder in overtime.
“What a great job there at the end with Macie hanging with that rebound,” Sims said. “At the timeout, I
said ‘you win these games on put-backs.’ People don’t want to foul and a lot of times they watch the
shot go up instead of boxing out.”
Stringfellow’s basket gave Perrysburg a 40-38 victory and a berth in the regional semifinal on Wednesday
at Norwalk with a 6:15 start. Perrysburg will play Akron Archbishop Hoban.
“Our coaches are always telling us to follow your shot even if you are getting blocked. So I went up and
followed my shot and put it up with my left hand,” Stringfellow said. “I wasn’t sure at first when the
buzzer was going to go off, but as the buzzer went off I was like ‘dang we just won that game.’’’
On the winning basket, Stringfellow, who scored a game-high 14 points, drove the right baseline and her
shot attempt was blocked by Alasia Easley.
The ball came back to right-handed Stringfellow, who grabbed the ball and scored with her left hand.
“That’s not an easy shot on a four-foot left-handed floater,” Sims said. “It’s almost like the team that
had the ball last was going to win and that’s what happened.”
“I have never hit a buzzer-beater. It was a lot of emotion actually with the team running out to me. It
feels good .. It was a grind, we took it home,” Stringfellow said.
In a good defensive effort by both teams, points were hard to come by in the entire game.
Perrysburg held a 10-9 lead after eight minutes.
The Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to 15-9 at the start of the second quarter and then the Spartans
made an 11-0 run to take a 20-15 lead with 1:41 left in the half. Easley scored four of the 10 points.
Perrysburg out-scored Start 5-2 to end the half with the Spartans holding a 22-20 lead.
There were a total of 10 points scored in the third quarter and the teams went into the fourth quarter
tied at 26.
The game was tied at 31 and then Stringfellow made two free throws and teammate Gracie Mitchell scored on
a short jumper off an inbounds pass with 3:17 remaining to give the Yellow Jackets 35-31 lead
Start countered with a basket from Victoria Alexander and then Easley made two free throws with 17.3
seconds to tie the game at 35.
The Yellow Jackets had an opportunity in the final seconds of regulation, but could not convert.
In the overtime, Mitchell made one of two free throws and Kylie Griggs hit a basket to give the Yellow
Jackets a 38-35 lead with 2:47 remaining.
Keyaira Burroughs split a pair of free throws with 2:11 left and then scored on a layup after picking up
a loose ball to tie it at 38 with 1:22 remaining.
That set the stage for Stringfellow’s shot which will be remembered for a long time by both teams.
“We have never had one this close, win or lose in the tournament,” Sims said. “It’s great to be here. It
always is. We have been here like seven times in the last 11 years something like this, but not in this
gym, but in a district final. It never gets old, it’s fun.”
Briggs finished with 10 points and Mitchell chipped in with 10 for the Yellow Jackets, now 19-6.
Easley led Start, who finished 16-9, with 10 points. The Spartans were 16-of-18 at the free-throw line.
Toledo Start 9~13~4~9~3~38
Perrysburg 10~10~6~9~5~40
TOLEDO START
V. Alexander,1-2—4; Nicholson, 2-3—7; Burroughs, 1-2-3—8; Easley 3-4—10; Butler, 1-1-4—9; Roe, 0-0—0;
Foster, 0-0—0; O’Larry, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 8-2-16—38.
PERRYSBURG
Stringfellow, 3-2-2—14; Griggs, 3-1-1—10; Wilhelms, 0-0—0; Mitchell, 2-4—8; Faris, 1-0—2; Knowlton,
0-0—0; Vaillant, 0-1-3—6; Thomas, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 9-4-10—40.
