By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
PERRYDALE, Ore.– The Perrydale Girls Basketball team gave themselves a chance to the final buzzer to win a ballgame on Monday night at home.
Hosting Dufur in a 1A non-league match-up, the Pirates and the Rangers at 30 early in the fourth quarter before Dufur built up a two-possession lead on Perrydale in the final frame.
But. With momentum against them, the Pirates dug deep and came back into the contest. With 42.6 seconds remaining, they trailed by one and gave themselves several opportunities to pull ahead on the Rangers in the closing seconds of the game. Three of them actually, but turnovers hurt Perrydale on two of them and their third, a last second three-point attempt for the win, almost proved to be the deciding factor in the 42-41 defeat as it just bounced out of the hoop at the buzzer.
“I always told the girls, never give up and we put ourselves into some different opportunities to win it tonight. But it didn’t come down to the last minute, it really came down to playing four quarters solidly and we just had too many turnovers at the end,” said Perrydale Head Coach Lindsay Gunther. “Too many turnovers through the first three quarters and then having to rely on the very end of the game, it’s really a hard thing to overcome.
“Take care of the little things and it’s a different ballgame.”
At 4-3 on the year, and two non-league games left before entering Casco League play January 8 against Willamette Valley Christian, their games to this point have been designed to put them in these situations to see where they are at and how they will respond. All good learning experiences as they now turn their focus to Umpqua Valley Christian pm December 30.
“I told the girls that we probably have one of the hardest non-league schedules we’ve seen in several years. We’re playing against teams who are in the Top 10 respectively between 1A and 2A. It’s a good thing for us,” said Gunther. “That’s what will get us ready for league play. And when we can face teams like this, and yeah we may not always win them, but we can learn the little things from these mistakes that we’re making here, so when we face our league competition, we’re settled and clear for it.”
Mallory Gunther led Perrydale with 12 points and Kalia Gibson contributed six points and making two of the Pirates five three-pointers.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
