Perry’s Mary Hoersten blocks the shot of Ridgemont’s Anna Ramsey on Thursday night at Perry.
Jackelyn Johnson | The Lima News
PERRY TOWNSHIP – When shots aren’t falling, the defense needs to pick it up.
For Perry, its defensive pressure turned it up a couple notches in the second half to help lead the way for a 48-27 victory over visiting Ridgemont on Thursday in a Northwest Central Conference opener for both teams.
With the win, Perry improves to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the NWCC. Ridgemont falls to 0-5 in all games played and 0-1 in conference action.
Perry’s defensive pressure helped force 28 turnovers on the night. In the fourth quarter alone, Ridgemont turned it over 11 times.
Ted Patton, who is in his third stint as the Perry head coach, pointed to his team’s defensive effort as the key to Thursday’s game.
“We played hard for most of the game. But we came out, I think, a little soft in the first quarter, but we picked it up as the game went on and created some turnovers,” Patton said.
“I think that is our strength this year – playing good defense, getting them to turn the ball over and then running the floor. I think we do a good job with that.”
Zyasija Scott led Perry on Thursday with 10 points, six steals and six rebounds. Mary Hoersten had nine points, eight rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Khaliah Luster and Miauni Hall each added eight points. Hall also came away with five rebounds and two steals. Lexenna Lee had 10 rebounds and four points for the Commodores.
Anna Ramsey led Ridgemont with eight points, four rebounds and two steals. Ruth Eckstein had six points and eight boards for the Golden Gophers.
In the first quarter, the lead changed hands twice before Perry managed to slip out with a 13-8 advantage at the first stop.
Perry led 17-12 at the halftime break.
In the third quarter, the Commodores put a cushion between them and Ridgemont. Perry’s lead grew to 14 points, 31-17, by the end of the third. Ridgemont struggled at the offensive end in the third quarter, connecting on just 2 of 11 of its shots from the floor.
For the game, Perry shot 30 percent from the field. Ridgemont connected on 28 percent of its field goal attempts.
“We’ve been slow (starting out games) on shooting, sometimes,” Patton said. “It seems that if we come out and get a good start, we’re OK. But we are a pretty decent shooting team. We just have to go out and do it.”
At the free-throw line, Perry was 6 for 17 shooting for 35 percent, while Ridgemont was 2 of 2 from the charity stripe.
Perry held a slight edge on the boards, 40-37.
“We definitely have to rebound. … We’re not really tall,” Patton said. “We really worked a lot on that this week at practice – not giving up on the offensive boards. So, we did a good job with that tonight.”
Perry 48, Ridgemont 27
Ridgemont 8 4 5 10 – 27
Perry 13 4 14 17 – 48
Ridgemont
Anna Ramsey 8, Laney Elssasser 5, Jayda Dondrea 4, Kylie Shreve 4, Ruth Eckstein 6. Totals: 12-2-27.
Perry
Khaliah Luster 8, Zyasija Scott 10, Miauni Hall 8, Tyanah Gordon 3, Alana Pernell 3, Mary Hoersten 9, Lexenna Lee 4, Jalea Rios 1, Jeanel Pryor 2. Totals: 20-6-48.
3-pointers made: Perry – Khaliah Luster 1, Zyasija Scott 1; Ridgemont – Laney Elssasser 1.
Records: Perry 2-2, 1-0 NWCC; Ridgemont 0-5, 0-1 NWCC
