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Perry, Howard lift Devils to victory over Dragons
By BOB ETTINGER
NILES
Molly Howard had no way to know if the ball was going to come her way or not, but if a McDonald teammate sent her a pass, she knew exactly what she was going to do with it.
Taylor Tuchek did shoot that pass to Howard, who knocked down a shot at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Blue Devils a boost when it was needed most in a 40-36 victory over Niles at Veterans Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday.
“That was a big shot,” McDonald coach Amy Dolsak said. “She knew the clock was running down and she had to shoot. It was a bonus for us that it went in. That helped us with the momentum.”
Following Maddy Howard’s bucket for McDonald (8-0), Lindsay Hayes made a conventional three-point play and Kenzi Johnson followed with a 3-pointer as the Red Dragons closed to within three, 25-22, at 2:47 of the third.
“Every time down the court, we played a different defense,” Niles coach Makayla Butler said. “Man, zone, the 1-3 press, it was always something different in the third quarter and that helped us.”
The Blue Devils answered with a 7-2 spurt that concluded with Molly Howard’s 3-pointer from the left wing to close out the period with a 32-24 edge.
“I didn’t know if they’d give it to me or not,” Molly Howard said. “I was ready, just in case, to shoot it. I knew time was running down. I was thinking about making the best I could of it and putting up the best shot I could. With the clock running down like that, there’s a lot of pressure. You have to think fast, I guess.”
That shot and a triple from Olivia Perry just more than a minute into the fourth were daggers of sorts to the Red Dragons (6-5), who trailed, 35-25, with 6:45 to play.
“It was momentum for them,” Butler said. “We were down three or four at that point and it went right back up. In the fourth, they came right out and hit that shot and [the lead] was back to 10 just like that.”
Four straight free throws from Nae Fryer and a 3-pointer from Chante Clinkscale got Niles within three, 35-32, with 2:45 left, but it never got closer. Fryer finished with 15 points.
“They’re a really good team,” Perry said. “They felt us get uncomfortable against the press. We made some dumb mistakes and turned the ball over. Then they were rolling and they started to score a bunch, too.”
Perry netted eight points in the first half as McDonald built a 20-11 lead at the intermission. She led McDonald with 17 points. Molly Howard added nine.
“In the first half, we really played well together,” Perry said. “We moved the ball well and we kept fast-breaking, which helped, and we played together.”
The Red Dragons struggled offensively over those first 16 minutes as they fell behind by as many as 11.
“We couldn’t buy a bucket if we needed to, no matter if it cost a penny,” Butler said. “In the second half, we started making shots and made a run, cutting it to three at one point.”