Perry’s Miauni Hall shoots against Lima Senior’s Anya James during Thursday’s game at Lima Senior High School. Scott had 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA – Veteran girls basketball coach Ted Patton knew there were a couple of areas that he needed to focus on when his Perry squad faced Lima Senior on Thursday.
Patton knew his team needed to win the battle on the boards. Secondly, he knew it was imperative for his team to slow down Lima Senior’s playmakers.
Patton’s squad checked both boxes Thursday en route to a 56-39 victory over Lima Senior in a nonconference girls basketball matchup at Lima Senior.
Lima Senior’s Maisie Strawser managed to score 13 points on Thursday. However, Perry’s defensive pressure held the senior guard to just four points in the second half.
Teammate Anya James scored six points for the Spartans but did not make a field goal. James recorded all six points at the free-throw line on 6 of 8 shooting.
“We thought if we could get them slowed down on running the floor – with a halfcourt offense, we could play with them,” Patton said. “Those (Strawser and James) were definitely the two girls that we keyed on.”
With the win for Perry, the Commodores improved to 6-3. Lima Senior evens its record at 5-5.
In the rebounding department, Perry controlled the boards, 49-39.
“We worked hard on that all week, on backside rebounding,” Patton said. “We thought that if we could get the advantage in rebounding, then we could do a good job in controlling the game.”
Amiyah Coleman added eight points for Lima Senior, including two 3-pointers. Coleman also pulled down nine rebounds. Mallory Gipson had eight points and nine boards for the Spartans.
Lexenna Lee led Parry and all scorers with 20 points, including 10 of 13 shooting from the free-throw line. Lee also came away with a game-high 11 rebounds. Zyasija Scott had 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Khaliah Luster added eight points and four boards for the Commodores.
“Lexenna (Lee) has been great all year on shooting free throws,” Patton said. “She’s been shooting a very high percentage (at the free-throw line) for the year. It’s nice to have her at the line. She did a nice job tonight of hustling and getting herself in position to score.”
The game started a little slow for both teams.
At the end of the first quarter the game was knotted, 9-9. Perry pulled out to a 26-20 lead by the halftime break.
The Commodores extended their lead to 10, 43-33, by the end of the third quarter. In the final eight minutes, Perry outscored the Spartans 13-6.
For the game, Perry connected on 30.4 percent of its field goal attempts. Lima Senior shot 25.9 percent from the field.
“I think a lot of the kids between these two schools know each other,” Patton said. “I think we came out with a lot of adrenaline flying. I think we were shooting it kind of hard. We talked about that in a couple of our timeouts. … I think that really helped. They got it slowed down a little bit. In the second half, we shot much better.”
Lima Senior committed 17 turnovers, while Perry turned the ball over 13 times on the night.
“We know with the type of ball we play, that we’re probably going to have some turnovers,” Patton said. “We don’t accept it, but we say to them, ‘Hey, we know we’re going to have some turnovers. So, don’t get too excited about it.’”
Perry 56, Lima Senior 39
Perry 9 17 17 13 – 56
Lima Senior 9 11 13 6 – 39
Perry
Khaliah Luster 8, Zyasija Scott 13, Miauni Hall 2, Carlee Dalton 2, Tyanah Gordon 7, Mary Hoersten 4, Lexenna Lee 20. Totals: 21-11-56.
Lima Senior
Amiyah Coleman 8, Angie Kohlhofer 4, Maisie Strawser 13, Anya James 6, Mallory Gipson 8. Totals: 14-8-39.
3-pointers made: Perry – Khaliah Luster 1, Zyasija Scott 1, Tyanah Gordon 1; Lima Senior – Amiyah Coleman 2, Maisie Strawser 1.
Records: Perry 6-3; Lima Senior 5-5
