Through four games of the basketball season everything was fine. Then came a two-game skid with losses by a combined 44 points.
Some squads may have folded under the pressure, worried something had gone horribly wrong. Not the Perry girls.
The Jayettes (7-2 overall, 3-1 in Raccoon River Conference) responded with three consecutive wins to enter the holiday break on a confident note, and for good reason.
Perry has won all four of their games decided by 10 or fewer points, including wins of three and four points, along with a one-point overtime win Dec. 22 against visiting Winterset.
The Jayettes have launched 184 3-pointers and hit 45 (24.5 percent) as part of an overall accuracy of 34 percent, a number veteran head coach Mike Long would doubtless love to see increase, along with the 59.2 clip from the foul line.
The team has committed 110 turnovers, but those and the occasional shooting woes have been overcome by 92 assists, 81 steals and an energetic defense that has harassed opponents and led to several dozen forced miscues.
Grace Marburger averages 14.1 points per game and has made 27 assists while hitting 16-of-61 treys (26.2 percent) while Jo Diw is scoring at a 14 ppg clip and has grabbed 70 rebounds — 33 of them off the offensive glass.
Emma Olejniczak (7.8 ppg, 21 assists), Molly Lutmer (7.3 ppg) and Grace Stewart (4.1 ppg, 40 rebounds) complete the starting five, who are rarely, if ever, rested.
Perry hosts Greene County Tuesday in a junior varsity/varsity girls-only set. The Jayettes will join the Bluejays for coed bills at Ballard (Jan. 6), Roland-Story (Jan. 7) and Boone (Jan. 10) before Bondurant-Farrar visits Jan. 13.
