Louisville Leopards Vs. Perry Panthers Girls Basketball Tournament 2011 Video Highlights

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Louisville 53, Perry 37

The Lady Leopards (20-2) closed out their game Thursday night on a 12-0 run in the final five minutes to convincingly defeat the Perry Panthers (11-10) 53-37 and claim their first sectional title since 2008.  Mackenzie Storlie had plenty of steals to go along with a game-high 16 points, and Brianna Libertore also poured in 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to lead the Lady Leps to victory.

Things did not start off well for Louisville as they fell behind 10-2 early.  But quick hands and great awareness on the defensive side of the ball kept the Lady Leopards within 12-8 at the end of one.  Molly Brown, Libertore, Storlie, and Lauren Bricker all had steals in the period.

Lauren Bricker looks to inbound during the Lady Leps Sectional Championship win over Perry.

By halftime, the Lady Leps cut the Panthers lead to the slimmest of margins.  Storlie and Desi Givens both hit three-balls, Angela Risaliti made a shifty basket, and she also fed Libertore for one of her two buckets in the second period.

Louisville didn’t mess around to start the second half.  Storlie lobbed a pass from just in front of half court to a wide-open Brown for the lay-in just 12 seconds into the third quarter and soon after Storlie frooze the defense and popped a bucket in the paint to put Louisville up three.

But like a bad habit the Panthers would not go away easy.  Macy Byrd answered the Leps with a three-pointer to tie the game at 25-25.  A little later, Byrd made a fast break jumper to tie the game again, this time at 27 a piece.  However, Byrd would be pulled midway through the third period after picking up her fourth foul, she ended the game as Perry’s lead scorer with 15.

Louisville silenced Perry’s momentum by seizing an 8-0 run of their own.  Storlie made a layup and completed the “and one” at the free throw line before Brown buried a trey from the right corner, which helped the Lady Leopards go into the final period up by four.

Perry nudged within a field goal with a little under six minutes left in the game, but Louisville answered immediately when Storlie heaved a full court pass to an uncovered Bricker who bounced it in for two.  This charitable defensive act by the Panthers was in large part due to a breakdown in their full-court press coverage.

Allison Bailey countered the Leopard attack by hitting a long two-ball with fivminutes left in the game to cut the Leopards lead to 41-37.  The Panthers failed to change the digits on their side of the scoreboard after that.  A few seconds later, Storlie heaved another long pass, this time to a wide-open Brown who kissed it off the glass and in.  This play  ignited a 12-0 run by Louisville in which they hit 8 of 10 from the free throw line to seal the deal.

As time waned down, an amazing sequence occurred.  Number 23, Storlie, had 3 steals in just 23 seconds.  Like a hot potato, the ball bounced back and forth between Perry and Louisville, but it always seemed to end up in Storlie’s hands.  She stole the ball on offense, lost the ball and stole it right back, missed a layup, and then intercepted the rebounding Panther’s pass.

Anyways, Louisville cruised 53-37 to go to 6-0 on the year against the Federal League.  They will have to face another Federal League opponent in second seeded North Canton Hoover next Thursday.

Louisville Leopards Vs. Perry Panthers Girls Basketball Tournament 2011 Statistics

LEOPARDS: Storlie 4 7-8 16, Libertore 5 5-6 15, Brown 3 0-0 6, Jones 1 4-4 6, Risaliti 2 1-2 5, Givens 1 0-0 3, Bricker 1 0-0 2,  Lemmon 0 0-2 0, TOTALS 17 17-22 53.

3PT (2): Givens (1), Storlie (1)

TEAM FT: 17-22 77%

PANTHERS: Byrd 6 2-3 15, Bailey 3 0-0 6, Tilton 3 0-0 6,  Bucksar 2 0-0 4,Frease  2 0-2 4, Hmeidan 0 2-2 2, TOTALS 16 4-7 37.

3PT (1): Byrd

TEAM FT: 4-7 57%

NEXT GAME: The Lady Leps will continue play at Alliance High School Thursday, March 3 at 6:00 PM when they play the North Canton Hoover Lady Vikings in the District Semifinals.

 

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