PERRY TOWNSHIP — Waynesfield-Goshen’s Peyton Webb came through in the clutch.
With the score knotted at 51-51 against Perry and time winding down, the senior Tiger knocked down a short jumper just inside the 3-point arc with 1.2 seconds left in the game to give Waynesfield-Goshen a hard-fought 53-51 win in a key Northwest Central Conference clash Thursday night.
With the win, the Tigers remain unbeaten in the NWCC with a 4-0 mark and improve to 7-9 on the season. Perry slips to 9-8 on the year and 3-2 in conference play.
Tiger head coach Jocelyn Hennon, who said this was a total team effort, admitted that Webb was not the first choice to take the final shot but came through with the winning bucket.
“I have a lot pieces and Peyton Webb just works her but off,” Hennon said. “She usually off every time she shoots and tonight she said ‘I didn’t yell off,’ and she was open I told her to shoot it and she did. It is her first year playing varsity and I am very proud she was confident to take that.”
The Tigers, who owned a height advantage, was continually stymied by the tenacious Perry defense, as they kept W-G big post players in check for most of the night. However, as Hennon pointed out other girls did step up. Perry shutdown sophomore sensation Raegan Hutchinson to eight points but contributed by grabbing nine rebounds.
“They (Perry) did a great job of shutting her down,” Hennon said. “Our shots didn’t fall inside but we had other people step up.” Tatelyn Farabila stepped up. Peyton Webb stepped up. We had some others that came off the bench and played excellent defense. Peyton Webb plays great backside defense. Zarai DeLeon (eight rebounds on the night) got some rebounds but it truly was a team effort.
“We had to pick some one up when we missed and that is what we harp on. We tell them all the time. `You are family. You pick each other up.’”
Tiger senior Tatelyn Faraglia had a double double night as she scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds.
For Perry, it was a heartbreaking defeat and Perry head coach John Berens pointed to the Tigers’ rebounding and free throw shooting that led to the Commodores’ downfall. W-G outrebounded Perry 45-26.
From the charity stripe, the Commodores were 16 of 28.
“Give our girls some credit,” Berens said. “We handled them for the most part alright. They fought hard in there and I am not very deep. We are not very big either. But the kids that we do have battled and it was a tough one tonight and a good ballgame.
Perry’s Khaliah Luster scored 15 points and teammate Zyasija Scott, coming off the bench, chipped in 11 points. Lexanna Lee had a double double night as she scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Perry, behind some excellent interior defense, owned a 15-8 lead after the first period and opened up as much as an eight point lead, 20-12, with 6:53 left in the first half. The Tigers rallied to slice the lead to down to two, 28-26 by halftime.
The see-saw affair continued into the final two stanzas with W-G holding a 39-38 lead after three quarters and the trend continued for the remainder of the game.
