 The
first time the girls basketball teams from Northview
and Perrysburg met this season, the Wildcats posted
a surprisingly lopsided win.
Last night, in their second
meeting, Northview posted a 57-43 victory on its
home floor. Despite a quick 12-2 start that led to a
double-digit advantage nearly the entire game, the
Wildcats' second win over the Yellow Jackets didn't
come nearly as easily as the first.
"I never felt really comfortable
until the final minutes tonight, even though I'd
look up and see a 15-point lead," Northview coach
Jerry Sigler admitted. "I never felt comfortable
because the Perrysburg kids never quit.
"I knew it would be a battle all
the way down to the end."
The Wildcats' quick 12-2 start was
fueled by a defense that forced Perrysburg to commit
four turnovers in the first three minutes and seven
in the first quarter alone.
"The last three games our
intensity has been better," Sigler said. "We've been
more aggressive, and we've played a little harder.
We've had a little more urgency to get things done.
"Some times that results in a
little foul trouble, but we had some kids come off
the bench and get things done. Off the bench, I
thought Kaitlyn McCoy did a nice job, and I thought
Tory Busby did a nice job."
Foul trouble forced the Wildcats'
leading scorer, Olivia Fouty, to the bench for the
final 11:35 of the first half.
Still Northview managed to extend
its lead to as many as 17 points in the second
quarter, thanks to 13 first-half miscues and 3 for
10 shooting from the foul line by the Yellow
Jackets.
"Missing free throws and making
unforced turnovers [were our downfall] in the first
half," Perrysburg coach Todd Sims said. "We were
down 14 points at halftime and, if we would have cut
those things we could have been a little closer.
"Not finishing around the basket,
missing free throws - things like that you might
miss in atypical game. In a game like this, those
things are magnified."
In the second half, Fouty
dominated, scoring nine points in each quarter to
finish with 26 while
adding seven of her game-high eight rebounds in that
half.
"We knew they had to come out of
the zone because they were down, and that opened up
a ton of things for me," Fouty said of her
second-half outburst. "We spread everything out and
I was isolated in the lane."
While Perrysburg made several runs
in the second half, it never came closer than 10
points.
"We came out fired up because this
was an important game to stay in the league title
race," Fouty said. "We knew we needed to knock them
off again."
Northview's Miriam Justinger added
15 points - making 9 of 10 shots from the foul line
- and had six rebounds as the Wildcats improved to
11-2 overall and 6-1 in the Northern Lakes League.
Emily Treece finished with 13
points and Kelsea Newman added 11 while both
finished with six rebounds to lead Perrysburg, which
fell to 9-3 and 5-2. |
