Wyoming Valley West guard Mackenzie Perluke (right) has the ball come loose while being guarded by Wilkes-Barre Area’s Reagan Holden (13) and Gloria Adjayi on Wednesday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
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Wilkes-Barre Area’s Gloria Adjayi (30) tries to block a shot by Wyoming Valley West center Trinity Johnson (3) during Wednesday night’s game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Valley West guard Mackenzie Perluke (front) and Wilkes-Barre Area’s Danayjha Moore chase after a rebound during the second quarter Wednesday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Valley West guard Mackenzie Perluke (left) brings the ball down court as Wilkes-Barre Area’s Shelby Ardo Boyko defends Wednesday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
PLAINS TWP. — Every time Wyoming Valley West made some inroads in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, Wilkes-Barre Area found a way to stop it.
Lead down to six, lead back to 10. Once again down to six, once again back to 10 until the Wolfpack settled for a six-point win.
WBA’s Gloria Adjayi played her part in quelling both rally attempts as the Wolfpack remained in first place with the 48-42 victory in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 girls basketball.
WBA improved to 3-0 in the division and 9-1 overall, sharing first place with Hazleton Area. Valley West fell to 1-1 in the division and 4-5 overall.
“The last quarter was more exciting than I wanted it to be,” WBA coach Mary Mushock-Namey said.
It didn’t appear it would be, though. WBA opened a 39-27 lead with under a minute left in the third quarter. Valley West finished off the final minute with a 6-0 run and Gabby Marsola’s inside basket pulled the Spartans within 39-33 entering the final period.
The Wolfpack then pushed its advantage to 44-34 early in the fourth as Adjayi, who scored a game-high 15 points, scored off a sharp pass from Emma Krawczeniuk and Danayjha Moore scored off an inbound steal. The baskets came seconds apart.
WBA, though, went cold and didn’t score for over four minutes. The upside was Valley West was only able to trim four points off the deficit. The Spartans missed an opportunity to move closer as they turned over the ball twice.
Adjayi broke the drought with another inside basket, once again off a pass from Krawczeniuk, and Moore once again converted a turnover into a basket to increase the advantage to 48-38 with about a minute to play. Valley West scored the game’s final points on a 3-pointer by Claudia Siegfried with 53 seconds remaining.
Siegfried’s 3-pointer was the only one in the second half for Valley West, which had four prior to halftime.
“That was one of our main goals, to stop the three,” Mushock-Namey said. “He’s playing four guards with Brandy (Varner) injured so we knew they were going to be out there shooting or going inside to Trinity (Johnson).
“We had Gloria take away Trinity and I think she did a very good job defending her.”
Johnson had just one field goal after the first quarter. She finished with 12 rebounds, but the combination of Adjayi and Shelby Ardo Boyko helped the Wolfpack control the inside for the most part. Ardo Boyko had 11 boards. Reserve Eternity Aiken added six more.
“It was tough getting it in there,” Valley West coach Gary Ferenchick said. “We wanted to see what we could get and either get it kicked back out because we have some girls who can knock shots down from the outside. They made it tough on (Johnson) and our point guard, so that limited what we could do.”
Wilkes-Barre Area 48, Wyoming Valley West 42
WYOMING VALLEY WEST (42) — Trinity Johnson 3 0-0 6, Gabby Marsola 2 0-0 5, Mackenzie Perluke 3 5-8 11, Haylie Oliphant 3 2-2 9, Claudia Siegfried 3 2-2 11, Kiersten Rinehimer 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-12 42.
WILKES-BARRE AREA (48) — Natalia Credle 1 0-1 2, Danayjha Moore 4 0-0 9, Mackenzie Evans 0 1-2 1, Reagen Holden 2 0-0 5, Eternity Aiken 1 0-2 2, Shelby Ardo Boyko 3 1-2 7, Emma Krawczeniuk 2 0-1 5, Gloria Adjayi 8 0-2 17. Totals 21 2-10 48.
Wyo. Valley West`7`12`14`9 — 42
Wilkes-Barre Area`10`12`17`9 — 48
Three-point goals — WVW 5 (Siegfried 3, Marsola, Oliphant); WBA 4 (Moore, Holden, Krawczeniuk, Adjayi)