Perkins enjoys chance to play on Cavs' court

CLEVELAND — Kendall Zeiher was the first to find the bottom of the basket in a special playing opportunity at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Tuesday afternoon. The Perkins senior attacked in transition with her right hand and got her floater to roll in on the same rims to be used by the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers later in the evening. "It was really different, but it was a really awesome experience," Zeiher said. "I didn't think I would be able to do this in my high school career. It was really cool to be down there." It was a tough outing from there for Perkins, which ended up falling to Rocky River, 58-28. But it's still a day the Perkins players won't soon forget. "It was a neat experience," Perkins coach Ryan Orshoski said. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these girls to see this arena from the floor and sit where the pros sit." The afternoon's showdown between two teams called the Pirates is one of many high school games that will take part on the Cavs' floor this winter, and they've got the proceedings organized down to the minute. The squads are ushered down to the court once the floor is ready, then get a short warmup to get accustomed to a shooting backdrop totally unlike a high school court — namely, there's so much more open space behind the hoop in the spacious arena. Perkins' players had some fun in warmups attempting shots from beyond the NBA's 3-point arc. They also took some moments to look skyward at the massive scoreboard that hung over the floor. "Shooting is different with the hoop being different," Zeiher said. "It's weird looking up to try and see where the score is." After Zeiher's opening bucket, Rocky River mostly took advantage of a bumpy night by Perkins, which turned the ball over too much and couldn't grab enough defensive rebounds. "We struggled mightily today," Orshoski said. "We've had this happen a lot the last few years. The last three seasons, Perkins basketball has been 0-2 and has been able to put together some good seasons." Perkins was at its best when it got into attack mode. Camryn VanVlerah scored a nice bucket early on a back-cut feed from Ellie Manion. VanVlerah finished with 12 points, including a strong and-1 on a post pivot to her left hand. Haylie Brunner also set up one of VanVlerah's buckets after hounding a ball handler to force a steal before delivering a well-timed bounce pass in a two-on-one fastbreak. Brunner stuffed the stat sheet with three assists, five rebounds and five steals. Zeiher led Perkins with 15 points. Once she found her range, she had one sequence in the second half when she drilled three 3-pointers in a row. "Obviously I wanted the game to go different, but I'm proud of us for fighting," Zeiher said. "Especially in a different environment, it did throw us off with the nerves. That wasn't us playing at our full potential." Rocky River senior leader Ava Patti, a returning All-Ohio forward, made life difficult on Perkins all afternoon. She finished with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. "She's got a great euro step," Orshoski said. "She's super physical. And she just finds a way to put the ball in the hole." Orshoski got the chance to clear his bench in the fourth quarter, getting some minutes to Perkins' swing JV/varsity players on the NBA court. After the final whistle, the teams were quickly ushered out of the arena. The Cavs had a game to get ready for. But even though Perkins won't be fond of the result in their memory banks, they'll always have the visual of the afternoon they spent enjoying the cushy bench seats, well-lit court and palatial building that the pros play in. PERKINS (0-2) Haylie Brunner 0 1-2 1, Camryn VanVlerah 5 2-3 12, Kendall Zeiher 4 4-4 15. TOTALS 6 7-9 28 ROCKY RIVER (2-0) Mackenzie Russell 3 0-0 6, Olivia Dewey 3 0-3 9, Ava Patti 7 6-7 20, Nora Bruder 3 1-3 9, Rori V. 1 0-0 2, Kylie Crane 2 0-0 4, Bridget C. 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Lang 3 0-2 6. TOTALS 23 7-15 58 Perkins 4 10 14 0 — 28Rocky River 12 14 18 14 — 58 3-point goals — Perkins 3 (Zeiher 3); Rocky River 5 (Dewey 3, Bruder 2)