In the first quarter of the Monday, February 8 game between Perryville and Elkton, the host Panthers only had one more point than they had technical fouls called against them. Although Perryville performed much better in the second half, it was too little, too late with the end result a 64-44 Elks victory. Elkton stormed out to a 12-0 lead before the Panthers' Jules Jones made two free throws with 3:07 left in the first quarter. Perryville was whistled for three technical fouls in the period and trailed 19-4 after the first eight minutes. Panthers coach Mike Blizzard, who earned one of those technical fouls, was frustrated with the officiating, especially early. "Six fouls in the first minute, 25 [seconds]. We're in a packed-in zone," Blizzard said. "They're in a fullcourt press. My girl says, "My hands were straight up' to a teammate and gets a technical foul. I said 'ridiculous' and I get a technical foul. The difference was [20] points. They had 19 points from the foul line in the first half. I don't like to complain about officials and like blame…It's just tough to stomach that stuff." He then tried to be more diplomatic. "There were obstacles we weren't anticipating in the game that it's tough to gameplan for," said Blizzard. Perryville's plan was to force Elkton to take perimeter shots. "We were hoping to pack in a zone and make them beat us from outside," Blizzard said. "We'll never know if it would've worked." Trailing 34-13 at the break, the Panthers played man-to-man in the second half with Nikki Hill faceguarding Elkton's explosive point guard Ty Segure over every inch of the court. "I am very, very proud of my team for not quitting," Blizzard said. "Because there are an awful lot of teams that would've quit. They kept playing. They came out, took them man-to-man, and the second half [Perryville outscored Elkton 31-30]. We won the third quarter 18-13." Blizzard second-guessed himself. "We've had success taking away the other' team's best players and making them do something they are uncomfortable with to try and beat us," he said. "We weren't able to do that in the first game because it was the first game out of the chute and we didn't have that defense down. I'll take the blame for not coming out in it. I've always said, don't react to what another team is doing. Just go out and do what you do best. And [Monday night} I think maybe I overcoached by trying to go into a zone. So, that one's on me." Jules Jones paced Perryville with 22 points. BELOW: Perryville-Elkton JV girls basketball photos Perryville's JV girls basketball team topped Elkton 24-17 Monday, February 8. The Panthers prevailed despite playing the fourth quarter with just four players after two players had fouled out. Comments are closed.
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