NEWTON — Randi Walters buried seven 3-pointers en route to 31 points, single-handedly outscoring Perry while leading Newton to a 62-28 non-conference win Tuesday.
“They shot the lights out against us,” Perry head coach Chris Morrow said. “Everything we wanted to do to them, they did to us.”
“I thought we were flat and didn’t play with anywhere near the kind of energy we showed Friday,” he added. “The main things I will take away from this game is that we have a lot of work to do on defense, and that we have to be more mentally tough, no excuse.”
The Cardinals held only a 17-13 lead after the first eight minutes of play and used a 13-5 spurt to enter the intermission with a 30-18 advantage.
Perry scored the first three points of the third quarter to bring their deficit back to single digits, but Newton hit a 3-pointer in response. That proved a critical play in the game, as the Perry offense sputtered the rest of the quarter, scoring only one more point as Newton added 14, creating a 47-22 bulge with one frame remaining. A 15-6 edge in the fourth quarter completed the lopsided win for the hosts.
“We have to learn from this,” Morrow said. “Tonight I was simply out-coached, so I will put some of this on me. I learned what I can and cannot expect from our girls and was out-coached trying to figure it out.”
“We can either sulk and feel bad or get back to work and realize there are things that need addressed, but those are all things that we control,” he added. “It was a learning experience all the way around.”
Jo Diw led Perry (1-1) with 11 points, with Molly Lutmer adding eight points. Six points from Isabel Saemisch and three from Grace Stewart completed the Jayette scoring list.
Perry returns to action Tuesday with a visit to Greene County. They will then join the Bluejay cagers in hosting Carroll Dec. 1 for a Raccoon River Conference twin bill.
