Floyd, Eagles power to win

Notre Dame’s Tierra Floyd, center, goes after the ball along with Northview's Kendall Jessing, left, and Maddie Cole. Floyd finished with 27 points.

THE BLADE/KATIE RAUSCH
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Notre Dame’s Tierra Floyd, center, goes after the ball along with Northview's Kendall Jessing, left, and Maddie Cole. Floyd finished with 27 points.

BOWLING GREEN — Notre Dame forward Tierra Floyd showcased her talents at the Showcase at the Stroh event Saturday where the Eagles set the tone early with defensive prowess.

The Eagles went full throttle right from the start of a tilt against Northview and ran away with a 68-33 victory at Bowling Green State University.

Floyd, a standout junior, scored 16 of game-high 27 points over the first two quarters when the Eagles built an insurmountable 35-12 lead.

Notre Dame forced 13 turnovers and had 12 defensive rebounds in the pivotal first half.

“Our defense set the tone for the whole night,” Notre Dame coach Travis Galloway said. “Our whole key coming in was getting off to a quick start and to play with momentum right away so that they would have to play catch up. Defensively we were contesting every shot and we were rebounding the first miss and then we got some easy buckets.”

Notre Dame junior Christiana Jefferson knocked down three 3-pointers and tallied 12 points. Kaayla McIntyre chipped in with 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Eagles (15-3).

Northview (15-6) was paced by Maddie Cole (10 points and nine rebounds) and Kendall Jessing (nine points and five rebounds).

Notre Dame seized a 14-3 edge after the first quarter as Floyd pumped in nine points. She scored seven straight in the final two minutes to open up an 11-point cushion.

“We wanted to get started fast,” Floyd said. “You never want to come out slow. We knew they were a good team and we knew we would have to come out playing our best. We kind of took [their will] away.”

The Eagles started the second quarter with a 9-1 spurt to seized a 23-4 lead with 5:12 left in the first half.

“I think that deflated them right away,” Galloway said. “We did a great job of kind of dominating them with our defense.”

Notre Dame's Jayda Worthy, who returned recently from an injury, hit a 3 to open the second quarter. Worthy finished with seven points. She also help the Eagles limit Northview's leading scorer Kendall McCoy (13.4 points per game) to seven points.

“Having her back gives the other players confidence,” Galloway said. “She was a huge difference guarding McCoy. She did a great job with her.”

Northview was both cold from the floor early (4 of 19) and committed too many turnovers. The Wildcats hit their first field goal of the second quarter with 2:24 left in the stanza and trailed 30-8 at that point.

The Eagles forced 24 turnovers. Notre Dame finished with a slight edge on the boards (30-29). The Eagles also knocked down 10 3s.

Floyd hit four 3s and had five rebounds.

“She is an elite player,” Galloway said. “Tonight she showcased a lot of what she can do from handling the ball to knocking down perimeter shots to getting steals in the passing lanes. She makes us go and makes us better.”

It was the fourth of five games played on the day.

“This was a good experience and it will get us ready for tournament time,” Floyd said.

Notre Dame’s Jayda Worthy, who had seven points, scores against Northview. The Eagles are 15-3.

Perrysburg 48, Lima Bath 38

At the Stroh Center, the Yellow Jackets held off Bath after taking an early 20-8 lead.

Sarah Baer led Perrysburg with 21 points. Allex Brown chipped in with 11.

Lima Bath cut into Perrysburg's 12-point lead after the opening quarter by outscoring the Yellow Jackets 13-4 in the second. Each team scored seven points in the third quarter.

Perrysburg clung to a one-point lead with 2:12 left when Abby Sattler hit a 3 pointer. The Yellow Jackets (17-2) hit eight of nine free throws down the stretch..

Danielle Van Dyne led Lima Bath (17-3) with 15.

Whitmer 55, St. Ursula 23

The Panthers parlayed a 12-point lead at the half into a 39-14 advantage after three quarters.

Abby Sarabia scored a 13 points for Whitmer and Keshyra McCarver added 12.

Megan Burns paced St. Ursula with nine points.

Southview 57, Bowling Green 54

The Bobcats led by nine at the half but the Cougars clawed back with a 19-point third quarter to rally for the win.

Emily Westphal scored 10 of her 21 points in the third quarter for Southview. Taryn Stanley added 14.

Tyanna Smith paced Bowling Green with 12, Livvy Dill added 11, and Reagan Morman had 10.