By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
ST. PAUL, Ore.– Who would have thought that the St. Paul Girls Basketball team would be held to 12 first half points by an opponent?
Well, the defense of Perrydale made sure that the Lady Buckaroos offense was kept at Bay entering the second half as after St. Paul’s 10-point first quarter, Isabelle Wyss’ basket with 2:15 left in the half was the Lady Bucks lone hoop of the second frame in Monday’s Casco League matchup.
It’s not surprising considering that the Lady Pirates has held St. Paul to their lowest point total of the season with 41 points when the two teams met on January 5 out in Perrydale.
But, the lone kryptonite for Perrydale on this night as their six first half points and their 15 total points is their second lowest point total outside of the 17 they scored against South Wasco County on December 30 at the Moda Center in Portland.
“I think it really helped us to speed them up and keep them under control,” said the Pirates Sydney Perkins as St. Paul led 12-6 at halftime. “We just got to come out playing aggressive (on offense), not playing scared and looking for a teammate. I think it has to do something with our offense. We were playing good defense but our offense wasn’t there.”
Perkins scored five of Perrydale’s six second quarter points and finished with those five points. Sydney Lawerence finished with five points and Alyssa Lux finished with four.
Emma Connor laid in a contested basket early in the third quarter as Alyssa Lux went 1-for-2 at the line. Connor answered to make it 16-7 with 4:35 left in the third before Wyss stole the ball from Lux to give the Bucks back a double-digit lead with 3:18 left 18-7, by quarters end St. Paul led 24-7 thanks to a 12-1 run.
“We just talked about it during halftime. I knew we were kind of struggling,” said Connor, who had seven of those 12 points in the third quarter. “So we got all of our emotions under control and relaxed. When we came back we were ready for whatever came and it allowed us to play super relaxed and calm the entire game.”
Connor finished with nine points in the game while Wyss finished with a game-high 19 points. Erin Counts finished with eight points.
Lux got an And one and #5 made a three-pointer and a short-ranger jumper, but it wasn’t enough as the Buckaroos pulled away in their 40-15 win to build a game and a half lead on the Lady Pirates.
Perrydale will host C.S. Lewis Academy Thursday at 5:30pm while St. Paul’s at Jewell Friday at 5:30pm.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
