(February 12th, 2015) – STRYKER: In their toughest Buckeye Border Conference match-up of the year, Pettisville was pushed to the brink by a determined Stryker squad on Thursday, February 12.
Rallying in the second half, the Lady Blackbirds were able to avoid the upset, beating the Panthers on their home court 44-36.
Stryker didn’t make things easy for the Pettisville girls. In fact, the Lady Panthers completely dominated the first half of the contest. After a tight first quarter that saw Stryker nudge themselves ahead 8-5, the Panther girls had an offensive explosion in the second, outscoring their guests 17-8. This gave the hometown girls a 25-13 advantage going into the half.
The Lady Blackbirds came out with a stifling defense in the second half, which very quickly got them back into the contest. Holding the Panthers to just 4 points in the third quarter, Pettisville put up 13 of their own. Now down just 3 points heading into the fourth and final period of play, the girls from Pettisville were poised to steal the game away from the Lady Panthers.
And that is exactly what they did. Thanks to an 18-7 effort in the contest’s last frame, the Blackbirds were able to head back to Pettisville with an 8 point victory.
The senior trio of Dana Fricke, Mikala Avina, and Jordyn Pursel played a pivotal role in the Pettisville comeback. Avina scored 12 points in the game. Fricke added 11 more, while Pursel managed 10 points herself.
In the early stages of the fourth quarter, Fricke approached the free throw line. Putting the extra point through the net, she reached an impressive milestone; scoring 1,000 points.
Stryker was led by the sophomore-freshman duo of Taylor Haines and Haley Doehrmann. Haines produced 15 points against an extremely tough Pettisville defense. Doehrmann scored 10 points in the loss. Junior Audra Rupp contributed another 5 points as well.