KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – Junior Jada Perry delivered the body blow Tuesday night as the Kaiserslautern Lady Raiders claimed Round 1 of their two-game Region II regular-season basketball series with a 47-46 victory over the Ramstein Lady Royals.
“I just forgot about the score,” Perry said about going to the line for a one-and-one with no time remaining and the score tied at 46. “I knew I had to do it for my team.”
Although the opportunity officially was a one-and-one, Perry had to sink her first try or have the game, which K-town led from the 7:30 mark of the second quarter until its final 40 seconds, slip into overtime. With the clock expired, there would be no chance for a rebound. Coolly, Perry hit nothing but net as both teams watched from the sidelines.
Perry, who took game-scoring honors with 17, scored 13 points after halftime. She stepped up particularly in the third quarter, grabbing four offensive rebounds and putting three of them into the basket during the stanza. She was fouled in the act of shooting on the other offensive board, but missed both free throws.
Medina Gregory, the senior who loomed large in the scoring column in K-town’s weekend sweep of visiting Hohenfels, scored 16 points, a total greatly aided by 7-of-10 shooting from the line.
Kateri Goldamer, whose bucket with 40 seconds to play enabled Ramstein to tie the game at 46 and capped a late four-minute, 14-6 run, led Ramstein (2-2 overall, 2-1 in Region II) with 14 points. Mackenzie Crews, who went 3-for-3 from the line in the late going, added 12.
Ramstein, playing for the first time since a 68-29 home drubbing of Baumholder on Dec. 9, had possession under its own basket during the game’s final seconds, but a frantic defensive effort by K-town forced a turnover with 4.3 seconds to go. K-town rushed the ball up-court, and Ramstein’s Katherine Enyeart collided with the streaking Perry as the clock ran out.
The foul call was totally in keeping with the up-tempo, physical play both teams employed throughout.
“It was a bloodbath,” summarized K-town coach Corey Sullivan. “Lots of fouls.”
The victory against its Division I and neighborhood rival put Kaiserslautern in the regional driver’s seat at 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the league. The Lady Raiders are next scheduled to play Tuesday at Baumholder.
Ramstein moves on to another rivalry game, Friday at Heidelberg, and then is scheduled to host Bamberg on Saturday. Both of those games are non-regional.
Sullivan downplayed the euphoria his team understandably felt about its dramatic victory.
“When I started here, they told me a victory over Ramstein was worth two,” he said. “But I told the team, ‘This is just January. This is not where we want to end up.’ “
That destination will come next month, when the teams meet again at Ramstein on Feb. 17 in their regular-season finale and at the European D-I tournament the following week at Wiesbaden.