Judging by the Lady Pirates’ performance in the first half, one would have assumed that Perryville fell to Festus.
However, that wasn’t the case.
Anna Gremaud scored with 1:20 remaining in the game giving Perryville a lead it would never relinquish as the Pirates secured a 54-50 victory over the Tigers Thursday at Ralph B. Tynes Gymnasium in Festus.
With the victory, the Pirates (9-5) remain in the Jefferson County Athletic Association Conference at 4-0.
“Coming into these late season match-ups, they get competitive because teams are figuring out who they are,” Perryville coach Angela Fulton said. “It certainly was a little tougher the second time around.”
Perryville defeated Festus 52-48 in overtime in December at home, and this one was just as close. Although it didn’t start that way.
Perryville committed 15 first-half turnovers, had two stretches of four minutes without a single point and found themselves down 16 points with two minutes left in the second quarter. It was a rough half for Perryville to say the least.
“A lot of it was nerves,” Fulton said. “You could see it on their faces before the game. We went into halftime and made a few adjustments and talked to them a little bit. You could see the weight lifted off their shoulders. I told them to just go out and have fun and the results took care of themselves.”
Brooklyn Moll led the way for Perryville with 14 points, while Kyla Schnurbusch had 13 points and Ciara Ehlers chipped in 11 points. Festus was led by Emily Holt’s 15 points, while Kinsey Benack and Mya Courtois each had 10. The biggest development of the game was the defensive effort put forth by Perryville as they held the Tigers’ leading scorer Josie Allen to three points.
“I felt like the defense was lacking intensity,” Fulton said. “If we wanted a shot to get back into the game, we were going to pick it up on that side of the ball. Our number one goal was to stop Josie Allen and I must take my hat off to Anna Gremaud, who held her to three points. We responded very well after halftime.”
The numbers prove that to be true as Perryville outscored Festus 19-7 in the third quarter and Festus scored just three points in the first five minutes of the quarter. Perryville jumpstarted the second half with a 7-0 run. Schnurbusch completed a three-point play and forced a steal into points to give Perryville its first lead at 37-36 with 2:36 left in the third quarter.
Perryville also took care of the ball much better in the second half with just five turnovers, including one in the third quarter alone.”
“We came out much more relaxed,” Fulton said. “That sounds pretty simple, but honestly that’s where it started for us.”
Ehlers splashed home a three-pointer to tie the game at 40-40 entering the final quarter. The game went back and forth from there as Moll and Schurbusch came away with clutch basketballs down the stretch before a lay-up by Anna Gremaud gave Perryville a 52-50 lead with a little more than a minute remaining in the game. Moll hit one of two free throws with 36 seconds remaining, widening the lead to 53-50. Festus had one more chance when Perryville turned it over with 25 seconds left, but the Tigers missed a quick lay-up before Moll iced the game from the free throw line.
Perryville will return to the court when it takes on Saxony Lutheran today at 7 p.m.
