Elle Infalvi hit her first five 3-point attempts and finished with a game-high 19 points in leading Perry to a 51-44 win over visiting Magnificat on Monday.
The Pirates, who improved to 18-2, added another quality win to their resume as Magnificat had earned the No. 2 seed in the Division I Northeast 6 district.
“This was a really big win for us,” said Perry coach Roy Infalvi, Jr. “Magnificat is a really good Division I team. They were a two-seed in their district of 37 teams, so for us to get this win tonight is big. It just kind of proves we can beat anyone if we’re playing good basketball and we played really good basketball tonight.”
Elle Infalvi opened the game with three 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Pirates built an 18-9 lead.
As Magnificat worked to slow down Infalvi, the rest of the Pirates stepped up. Sydney Moon hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter and JaC’ana Anderson was 5-of-6 from the free throw line n the first half.
“Early on, Elle got a couple of open looks, two within our offense and one in transition,” Coach Infalvi said. “She was kind of on fire to start and then they kind of face-guarded her and took her away a little bit and we had some other girls step up and hit some big shots to get some scoring in the second quarter.”
Perry led at halftime, 31-21.
Infalvi opened up the third with two more 3-pointers and Madyson Hacking scored eight of her 12 points in the second half as the Pirates held off the Blue Streaks.
Hacking was 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
“We had a couple of other key scores and then Madyson did a great job in the fourth quarter making all her foul shots to kind of seal the deal,” Coach Infalvi said.
Gigi Vicini and Anderson both contributed to the win with five points, Margaux Jean added four and Moon and Izzy McKoon each scored three.
As balanced as Perry’s offense was throughout the game, it was the Pirates’ defensive effort that fueled the win.
“The key was our defense tonight,” Coach Infalvi said. “They’re a pretty well-balanced team with some shooters and size inside. Within their offense, they set some screens to get some cuts to the basket but we beat them to some spots. I really think our hustle and the way we got after 50-50 balls, loose balls and rebounds, we just played with an intensity that was great tonight. That was one of the keys that we had to play 32 minutes like that and we did. JaC’ana only ended up with five points but she was a monster on defense. She was really good inside and got a lot of big rebounds for us.”
Perry hosts another top-seeded Division I team on Thursday when the Pirates will entertain Stow. They close out the regular season on Saturday against Cornerstone Christian.
