It wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t easy on the glass, but Perryville did enough where it mattered most.
Behind an aggressive night from Aby Amberger and a relentless effort on the offensive boards, the Lady Pirates knocked off Valle Catholic 61-46 on Feb. 12 at the Perryville Middle School gymnasium, winning their fifth straight game and improving to 13-8 on the season. Valle fell to 7-14.
Perryville set the tone early, building an 18-13 lead after the first quarter and extending it to 36-25 at halftime. The Lady Pirates were active in transition and capitalized on Valle turnovers, but the biggest storyline was rebounding — on both ends.
“They’ve got some pretty big girls inside that we were having a hard time dealing with,” Perryville coach Jason Dreyer said. “Out of their 25 first-half points, I’d say 15 to 20 were off offensive rebounds.”
Valle stayed within striking distance in the third quarter by continuing to crash the offensive glass, outscoring Perryville 14-8 in the period to trim the deficit to 44-39.
But the Lady Pirates answered in the fourth.
Perryville outscored Valle 17-7 over the final eight minutes, tightening up defensively and getting key stops to finally create separation.
While Valle hurt Perryville with second-chance points, the Lady Pirates matched that intensity on the other end. Perryville finished with 23 offensive rebounds and 40 points in the paint. Madeline Gremaud led the charge with 15 rebounds, 8 of them coming on the offensive end.
Amberger, a junior, set the offensive tone, scoring 21 points on 7-of-20 shooting and adding 7 rebounds and 3 steals. Junior Janie Porter contributed 14 points, 5 assists and 4 steals, while Ava Robles added 10 points and 6 steals.
It was Perryville’s third game in four days, and depth has been a concern. The Lady Pirates have been shorthanded with two varsity players sick and another out for about a month, forcing Dreyer to rely heavily on a seven-player rotation.
“That’s five in a row,” Dreyer said. “For the seven girls we’re playing, three games in four days was a lot. They’ve earned a break.”
Perryville shot 37.1 percent from the field and forced 21 Valle turnovers with 23 transition points.
PERRYVILLE 51, CHESTER 48
It wasn’t Perryville’s cleanest performance, but it was enough.
After a slow start and a tense fourth quarter, the Lady Pirates did just enough down the stretch to hold off Chester 51- 48 on Feb. 11 at the Perryville Middle School gymnasium.
Perryville struggled out of the gate, scoring just six points in the first quarter and falling behind 14-6. Energy and execution were lacking early, but the Lady Pirates flipped the momentum in the second period.
Coach Jason Dreyer adjusted the team’s press, and Perryville responded with a 12-0 run to seize control. The Lady Pirates poured in 21 points in the quarter while limiting Chester to five, taking a 27-19 lead into halftime.
“We came out super flat,” Dreyer said. “In the second quarter, our defense really turned it up. We changed a couple things in our press, and that got us going.”
The teams traded baskets in the third quarter, with Perryville maintaining a 41-34 advantage heading into the final period. But closing it out proved challenging.
Perryville managed just three field goals in the fourth quarter and settled for too many perimeter shots instead of attacking the basket. Chester chipped away behind strong post play and timely free throws, trimming the margin to one possession in the final minute.
“I felt like we stopped attacking in the fourth quarter and tried to shoot too many threes,” Dreyer said. “But we did just enough to hold on and got a defensive stop at the very end.”
Junior Janie Porter led Perryville with 19 points, six steals and five assists, while Madeline Gremaud added 10 points and eight rebounds. Abygail Amberger finished with 10 points, and Paula Sticht contributed five points and four rebounds.
Perryville shot 32.7 percent from the field, but forced 26 Chester turnovers.
Perryville 61, Windsor 23
The Perryville Lady Pirates wasted little time taking control, using a balanced offensive attack and a relentless defensive effort to roll past the Windsor Lady Owls 61-23 on Feb. 9 at the Perryville Middle School gymnasium.
Perryville set the tone early, building a 13-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Lady Pirates cranked up the pressure in the second period, forcing turnovers and converting them into easy transition baskets to extend the advantage to 31-9 at halftime.
“I noticed that they’ve had some trouble handling pressure,” said Perryville coach Jason Dreyer. “So we tried to pressure them. And we turned them over a lot early on. I think we were up by 22 at halftime.”
The third quarter put the game out of reach. Perryville outscored Windsor 21-7 in the period, pushing the margin past 30 points and triggering a running clock in the fourth.
“We came out and were aggressive on defense,” Dreyer said. “That turned into a lot of turnovers and layups for us.”
Defense fueled everything for the Lady Pirates. Perryville finished with 18 steals and 22 deflections while holding Windsor to just 23.1 percent shooting from the field. The Lady Owls managed made six field goals all night and averaged 0.35 points per possession against Perryville’s relentless pressure.
Junior forward Abygail Amberger led the Lady Pirates with 24 points, followed by classmate Janie Porter with 14.
