BURTON—Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin had a decided height advantage in its non-conference game against Perry at the Berkshire Hall of Fame Hoopfest on Sunday, but the Pirates had Victoria Lynch.
Lynch scored a game-high 25 points, including 15 in the second half, as Perry erased a 10-2 first-quarter deficit to beat the Lions, 43-29.
“She’s definitely a special player,” said Perry coach Roy Infalvi of Lynch. “No moment is too big for her. She steps up in big games for us when we need her, and we definitely rely on her. For how good she is on offense, and defensively, she is one of our leaders and causes a lot of issues with the other team’s ball handlers and creates some different opportunities for us in transition. She’s a complete player and we’re blessed to have her.”
NDCL started quickly as Mia Trusso and Giavanna O’Brien both hit 3-pointers and Emma Clayton scored all four of her points in the first quarter.
Trailing 10-2, Infalvi made a slight adjustment and the Pirates reeled off the next 12 points to take a 14-10 lead into the second quarter.
The Pirates maintained that lead until Brynn Munn’s last-second layup sent the Lions into the break leading 22-21.
Perry adjusted at halftime to deal with NDCL’s size advantage and those changes resulted in the Pirates outscoring the Lions in the second half, 22-7.
“Their size caused us to make a few adjustments,” Infalvi said. “Offensively, we had to be a little bit patient and reverse the ball a few times to try to get them out of position a little bit to allow us to drive the lane. I thought we did a good job of that at times. We also did a great job on our press and causing them some issues.”
Perry found success driving to the lane in the second half.
The Pirates went 2-for-2 from the free throw line in the first half but converted 7-of-8 in the second half with Lynch finishing the game 5-of-6 from the line.
Rosalyn Tharp contributed to the win with six points, Mia Lynch scored four, Jaidyn Newsome and Abby Bartlett both pitched in with three, and Chloe Haase scored two.
Lila Baeslach led NDCL with seven points, Giovanna O’Brien added six, Trusso, Maya Rowan, and Emma Clayton each scored four, and Taylor Frost and Munn finished with two each.
With the win, the Pirates improved to 9-3 overall and extended their winning streak to three straight games, including on back-to-back days.
“It’s tough playing back-to-back, especially when you have an early morning the next day,” Infalvi said. “I told them I had no doubt they’d come in with an attitude and a fire, and they did that from the opening tip. I thought we had a size disadvantage, but we also played a physical game and got after loose balls, and that showed in the outcome.”
