By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
PERRYDALE, Ore.– The Perrydale Girls Basketball team found that extra gear to close out regulation against Powers on Wednesday night.
The non-league game was physical. Both teams wore each other down in the process coming down the stretch and the Cruisers looked as if they were about to seal the victory entering the final minute of the game.
Powers, who like the Pirates are just outside the Top 10 in 1A, led Perrydale 35-31 with a minute left in the game. A slight push the minute or two prior set up the Cruisers to possibly ice this one at the line with free throws was the feel.
Or it was until the Pirates came around. Perrydale got it to a one point game with 23.5 seconds left.
It was 35-34 Powers at this point. 36-34 after Danika Bushnell split her two free throw attempts 10.5 left in regulation. Plenty of time for some heroics sure for the Pirates. And they drew up a play that helped them force overtime with the Cruisers as Kaila Gibson drove to the basket and tied things up at 36 with 2.3 seconds remaining. Proving to themselves that they, yes they were exhausted, but they were able to dig deep in the final minute in a close game to stay in it.
“It was a matter of believing in ourselves. We called a time out and talked about how we liked to see things and wanted to put it in Kaila’s hands and she executed it perfectly to put us in overtime,” said Perrydale Head Coach Lindsay Gunther.
But Powers dug deep as well. About two minutes into the overtime period, they began to pull away from Perrydale when they took the lead and built off of it. A 6-0 run in the final 2:11 of Overtime proved to be the deciding factor. It was a bittersweet ending to an otherwise strong performance by the PIrates. The game showed them what they can continue going into their regular season finale against Chemawa and Southwest Christian on Friday and Saturday.
“How did we do at the free throw line today? I’ll tell you right now, not pretty, probably not 50-percent. And we struggled at times at rebounding, so if we make up a few of those rebounds, box-out, get half those rebounds and make half those free throws, we probably won’t even be in overtime. It’ll be a different story,” said Gunther. “While tonight was an important game for tonight, Friday is even more important. It’s our last league game of the season, we want to finish on a high note.
“We got to take advantage of tomorrow’s practice to do the little things, to fine tune some things from our struggles today, to make it effective in Friday’s game.”
Gibson led the Pirates with nine points, Isabelle Arthur contributed another eight points in the defeat. Perrydale will be at Chemawa on Friday.
Powers, who saw Bushnell lead the team with 20 points, will be at New Hope Christian on Friday before closing out the regular season at home against Rogue Valley Adventist Academy.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
