By Brandon Shrider
Northwest Signal
WAUSEON — Perrysburg’s defense overwhelmed Wauseon early and the Yellow Jackets’ outside shooting all but buried the Indians in a 74-29 non-league win Monday.
Perrysburg, which improved to 6-3 overall, opened the game with a full-court press that forced Wauseon into four turnovers in four minutes. The Indians had also missed a pair of shots in the paint during the early-game stretch as Perrysburg built a 9-0 lead.
“That’s what we do. We sub, we try to keep the pace of the game up. … I really liked our effort tonight,” said Perrysburg coach Todd Sims. “I was a little worried — we played Friday, Saturday and Monday. But when you make shots you have lots of energy.”
The Jackets were even better at the other end of the floor.
Kallie Thames sparked Perrysburg’s unprecedented start with a three-pointer atop the arc less than a minute in and Chloe Kilbride followed with three consecutive 3s to give the Jackets a 12-2 lead.
Wauseon’s Mackenzie Stasa answered Kilbride’s second 3 with a layup and Marin Leatherman followed the third triple with a pair of free throws after an offensive rebound.
Perrysburg responded with two more threes in an 8-2 quarter-ending run. Ayla Turk buried the first triple, Thames made a layup and Addy Byrne knocked down the Jackets’ sixth three-pointer of the frame with three seconds on the clock for a 20-6 lead.
“Our defense carries over to our offense. So when you play good defense, have a lot of energy like that, your offense is better,” said Sims. “It just seems like you have a little bit more rhythm and obviously we had some rhythm going in the first quarter, we hit a couple shots and then we just started rolling.
“We can be tough to defend. When we defend and play good defense, we’re tough to defend on offense because we spread out and everybody, pretty much, can shoot and drive.”
Aizlynn Coronado nearly brought Wauseon (3-3) within single digits, as the sophomore guard buried a corner 3-pointer 20 seconds into the second quarter to bring the Indians within 20-9.
But Perrysburg responded with a 10-0 run, which turned to a 15-2 run for a 35-11 advantage with 2:21 remaining before halftime.
Kilbride, who scored 15 first-half points and 21 points for the game, sandwiched a pair of free throws and a transition layup around a Thames layup to ignite the run and force a Wauseon timeout.
Kilbride kept rolling, turning a Wauseon turnover into baseline jumper and Hayley Griggs made a pair of free throws to close the 10 unanswered points.
Stasa stopped the Indians’ scoreless stretch with two free throws, but Gabby Ortyl followed with a putback and Byrne knocked down a three from the wing to finish the 15-2 run.
Wauseon split a pair of free throws before Sophie Mitchell and Byrne hit back-to-back threes — to give the Jackets nine triples in the first half — for a 29-point lead and Hayden Siebenaler’s post hook in the closing moments pushed the halftime score to 43-17.
Five different players combined to make the nine first-half threes for Perrysburg.
Griggs and Taylor Jockett each made a three-pointer in the third quarter as Perrysburg stretched its lead to 59-26 and the Jackets outscored Wauseon 15-3 in the final frame.
Byrne added 12 points for Perrysburg, while Thames scored 10 and Griggs, Mitchell and Jockett each chipped in seven points.
Stasa paced Wauseon with 10 points and Leatherman scored six.
Perrysburg returns to action at home Wednesday against Ann Arbor Pioneer, while Wauseon travels to Southview for a non-league game Thursday.
