PERRYSBURG — Perrysburg’s defensive pressure was too much for visiting Ann Arbor Pioneer during a 63-33 non-league girls basketball victory Wednesday.
Junior guard Hayley Griggs had 15 points, five steals and four rebounds, junior guard Chloe Kilbride had 10 points and three steals, and sophomore guard Addy Byrne scored 10 points to lead the Yellow Jackets.
Perrysburg forced 34 turnovers, 18 of them steals off their full court pressure defense, and only committed eight turnovers on offense. As a result, even though outrebounded 45-31, Perrysburg got off 29 more shots from the field than Pioneer.
For a basketball player, nothing can be more gratifying than turning steals into quick points, but the Yellow Jackets work at it every day.
“It’s definitely fun to play,” Kilbride said. “It’s intense, but every practice we work on just getting up on the ball, being aggressive and we translate that into the game.”
Perrysburg had a rough night shooting from the arc, by their standards, making just five three-pointers, but when you get 70 shots from the floor, scoring more points comes a lot easier.
Overall, Perrysburg made 25-of-70 field goals (36%) and connected on 8-of-9 free throws (89%).
Perrysburg coach Todd Sims did not expect his team to shoot like they did in Monday’s 74-29 win over Wauseon. In that game, the Jackets had six triples in the first quarter alone and finished with 12.
“Our defense is what makes us go,” Sims said. “We didn’t shoot near as well as we did the other night — that was a little bit abnormal I would say.”
At halftime, the Yellow Jackets were getting outrebounded, 22-13, even though they led on the scoreboard, 33-21. Sims thought maybe his players were expecting the threes to automatically fall, just like they seemed to against Wauseon.
“We did a better job in the second half getting to the offensive boards,” Sims said. “In the first half, we were watching and hoping threes were going in or whatever, so we did a better job there, but defense is what makes our team go.”
Perrysburg sophomore guard Kallie Thames and sophomore forward Sophie Mitchell both finished with eight points and three steals each.
Sophomore forward Hayden Siebenaler had five points, five rebounds and two steals, junior guard Ayla Turk scored four points, and senior guard Taylor Jockett added three points.
Pioneer was 13-for-41 from the floor (32%), did not make a single shot from behind the arc, and was 7-for-13 from the line (54%).
Senior forward Emmanuel Davis led the Pioneers with a double-double 11 points and 13 rebounds and sophomore forward Jordan Davis had 10 points and nine caroms.
Senior guard Hailee Sheffield had two points and seven boards, and five other Pioneers, junior forward Clementine Weeber, freshman forward Mireille Powell, junior forward Kyrie Garwood, senior guard Emmy Wernimont, and senior forward Mya Richards scored two points each.
It is Perrysburg’s second straight win by over 30 points against a historically strong girls basketball program while improving to 7-3 on the season. Pioneer falls to 1-3.
The Jackets are hoping to get back on track after suffering a trio of early season losses to Bellevue, Toledo Whitmer, and Fremont Ross.
“We’re just using the energy that we have — we’re really trying to build it up from the past three losses that we’ve had,” Kilbride said. “We’ve learned a lot from that. Just bringing the energy every single game is what we are focusing on.”
There are more non-league tests against teams from Cleveland’s eastern suburbs next week before Perrysburg returns to Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division play at Anthony Wayne (5-2) on January 4.
“I think we’ve been playing better,” Sims said. “We’re getting a little more experience and stuff like that.
“Now, we’ll go down and play Painesville Riverside and Lyndhurst Brush over the break here (Dec. 27, 28), so those will be really good tests, so we’ll see.”
(photos by Scott W. Grau/Sentinel-Tribune)
