Lady Pirates excel in jamboree with speed

Perryville girls basketball coach Angela Fulton was just happy to be out on the court again. After having been limited to just six open gyms over the summer and been “lucky” so far with practice since it began earlier this month, the Lady Pirates were finally able to face other teams in a three team jamboree with Jefferson R-7 and Meadow Heights on Monday at Perryville High School.
“We’ve just been practicing the past couple of weeks and even in the summer,” Fulton said. “It was nice to get out and play against someone else because it seems like we have more energy playing against other teams.”
The Lady Pirates certainly showed that as they outscored their two opponents by a combined 52-19.
“It is something to definitely build on and you always want to have success anytime you play,” Fulton said. “But we definitely have things to work on, now we can go back and work on those weaknesses and continue to perfect our strengths.”
One of those strengths Fulton saw early was her teams’ ability to create havoc on the defensive end. In the first quarter against Jefferson, the opening basket for Perryville came off a steal by Leah Buerck who found Kyla Schnurbusch for the easy layup.
In the second quarter, sophomore Rachel Riney had the only two baskets for Perryville in the first four minutes against the Bluejays. However, the final two minutes saw the Lady Pirates explode for an 8-0 run that was led by two steals and subsequent buckets for Elizabeth Gremaud. Sophomore Tegan Bishop converted steals into a pair of baskets against Meadow Heights, while Schnurbusch did the same.
“We are very quick, but not very tall,” Fulton said. “So we want to be able to use our speed to our advantage this year. Seems like that style of play has become the Perryville way.”
On the offensive end, the Lady Pirates were very dependent on the success from beyond the three-point line last season, but that has changed in 2020. Perryville made just two three-pointers in 36 minutes of play.

“We stressed a lot over the summer about our ability to attack the basket and then dish,” Fulton said. “I think that in some of our losses we relied too much on the three, and we want to try to get to the free throw line a little bit more this year.”
The one shortcoming that Fulton spotted was the defensive rebounding.
Jefferson was able to get five offensive rebounds early in the opening quarter before Perryville was able to secure the possession.
Senior Aubrey Jung was the lone primary post player for the Pirates on the night, with an injured Adrienne Weibrecht on the bench, who Fulton hopes will help in that area.
Jung had two offensive rebound putbacks on the night.
“We fixed that a little as the night went along, but it still needs work,” Fulton said. “We have some injured that we hope to have healthy by the first game.
That first game will come on Nov. 30 in the Fredericktown Tournament against Potosi.
“I’m really excited for the season and can’t wait to see what we can do,” Fulton said. “It should be a fun year.”