Girls Basketball: Turnovers Costly as Kenwood Falls at Perry Hall

In a game riddled with turnovers, Perry Hall - down two starters - topped visiting Kenwood, 38-28. 

"It definitely wasn't one of our better games," Perry Hall head coach Amanda Fischer said. "But you could say our defense, our hustle is what helped us win this game...We definitely caused a lot of turnovers, which is why we got the win, but we also threw the ball away a lot which was why the game was so close."

The game remained close throughout, but Kenwood still trailed 8-6 after the first quarter and 20-13 at halftime.  Kenwood coach Chanel Wright-Green was frustrated at all of her team's missed opportunities.

"Twenty-three turnovers," Wright-Greene said. "We got down in the paint and we probably had about 15 turnovers in the paint and then we had 10 missed wide-open layups. They had 20 points at halftime, we can't ask no better than that. But when we only score 13 points and we miss wide-open layups, we're not going to beat anybody."

Perry Hall senior Shante Furr  made two consecutive shots in the second quarter, one on a steal and the other one a pump fake while sophomore Zoe Martin also made quite an impression, scoring eight points and diving into the paint, crashing the boards to come up with not only good shots, but plenty of rebounds. 

Kenwood stepped up the intensity in the second half as sophomore point guard Cierra Wilson netted consecutive shots in the second half, which closed Perry Hall's lead to two points before the Gators took over again for the win. 

"Very good with the fast breaks," Wright-Green said of the 5-foot-1 Wilson. "She's the best hustler on our team. She rebounds, but we just gotta finish. We gotta close out teams. When we got them on their heels, we have to learn how to win."

Fischer said Perry Hall found a way to pick up the win even with several key players not available due to injury. 

"Second half we let them get too many second-chance rebounds which is why they cut it to two points toward the end," Fischer said. "Our offense was a little off. Our starting point guard [Sheonte Camphor] is hurt, and our other starting forward [Cassidy Keller] is hurt so we're kind of filling in starting roles tonight. We gave a lot of freshman and sophomores minutes. They worked through those kinks and came out with the win."