Williamstown’s Gracie Montgomery, middle, wrestles a rebound away from St. Marys’ Brooklyn Davis (14) and Anna Bennett, far left, during Tuesday’s high school girls basketball game at Williamstown High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

WILLIAMSTOWN — In Williamstown’s camp, defense earns just as much value as offensive production. And the Yellowjackets have Anna Cosner to prove it.

The senior didn’t score a single point but earned rave reviews from her coaching staff and earned the team’s “Player of the Game” honor for her efforts on guarding St. Marys’ top scorer during Tuesday’s 53-49 win at Williamstown High School.

“Anna kept (Brynnley) Bulluck down for the biggest part of the game,” Williamstown coach Danny Bunch said. “Being the great player she is, Bulluck still ended up hitting some shots late, but Anna’s defensive pressure sort of set the tone for the rest of us.

“Anna had zero points. I explained in the locker room that sometimes you can’t base how well you play on the number of points you score.”

Despite giving up seven inches in her defensive assignment, Cosner kept the 5-foot-10 Bulluck scoreless in the first quarter and prevented the Blue Devil from teeing off following two consecutive performances of scoring more than 30 points.

Williamstown’s Anna Cosner (5) defends St. Marys’ Brynnley Bulluck during Tuesday’s game at Williamstown High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Cosner embraced her role as a lockdown defender, and even though Bulluck finished with 18 points the Yellowjacket guard gave credit to her teammates for having her back.

“People who have watched enough of my games know that defense is my specialty,” Cosner said. “I’m usually up on a shifty guard or a quicker guard, but today it was more of defending a post player. If she tried to get to the post, I really worked to get in front of her. Really, it was about being able to trust my teammates and having them help fill the gaps.

“It was like the five of us working together. Sometimes it was just me face-guarding a girl, but I really had to trust them today and it was really nice. We were all cohesive today. Yeah, I feel like it was a team defense award.”

In the battle of a pair of No. 2-ranked teams in the state – St. Marys in Class A and Williamstown in Class AA – who entered the contest unbeaten, Williamstown fired the first salvo by building a 12-6 lead before forcing St. Marys into eight turnovers in the opening eight minutes.

Maggie Frye carried the Yellowjackets (3-0) early with seven of her nine points, while Landrey Riggs followed suit for the Blue Devils (3-1) after pouring in seven of her nine points and keeping her club within range while trailing 16-10 after one quarter.

St. Marys’ Landrey Riggs (1) defends Williamstown’s Maggie Frye during Tuesday’s game at Williamstown High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Williamstown eased off the pressure somewhat after several players ran into foul trouble in the first half. St. Marys took better care of the ball and eventually built a four-point lead in the second quarter at 20-16. The Blue Devils only committed eight turnovers in the final three quarters.

“I wanted to go full court defensively, but I told the girls they had to start being a little smarter,” Bunch said. “I told them we had to play defense with our feet.

“So I didn’t necessarily pull the pressure off, but I made my point real clear that we had to be more patient in our reaches. I thought that would be good enough.”

St. Marys extended the lead to seven (33-26) in the early portion of the third quarter before Williamstown started to binge on the 3-pointer – four total in the third quarter alone, including two from Gracie Montgomery who was making her first start of the regular season.

“I’m really excited to have Gracie back,” Bunch said. “She’s just trying to get her legs underneath her. She is going to just keep getting better as she gets into shape.”

St. Marys ballhandler Brynnley Bulluck gets double-teamed by Williamstown’s Quinn Bunch (3) and Anna Cosner (5) during Tuesday’s game at Williamstown High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Williamstown overtook St. Marys 39-36 for the start of the fourth quarter and pushed the gap to as many as seven at 45-38 on a 3-pointer from point guard Quinn Bunch, who equaled teammate Arissa Burt’s 18 points for team-high honors.

Bulluck had her series of moments, especially midway in the final period with her two buckets – including a 3-pointer – which enabled St. Marys to catch Williamstown at 45-45 with 3-plus minutes remaining in regulation.

“I knew I had to stay with (Bulluck) the entire time she has the ball, and knowing even if she doesn’t have the ball she is able to get her own shot a lot of the time,” Cosner said. “It was a fun assignment for me. I love guarding a big girl in the post sometimes. I’m a lot stronger than they think I am, so I am able to push them out a little bit and that frustrates them.”

Still tied at 47-47, each side went empty on their first possession following a Williamstown timeout. Burt then came through with the shot of the night. Having missed terribly on a 3-pointer earlier in the quarter, she received a pass from Montgomery at the top of the arc and nailed her third trey of the game for a 50-47 lead at the 1:31 mark.

“Honestly, when Arissa shot it I cringed – I thought we didn’t need that – no matter who shot it,” Bunch said. “She was wide open so when she hit it, I felt a lot better.”

St. Marys’ Landrey Riggs works the offense during Tuesday’s game at Williamstown High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

A St. Marys turnover followed, and after a shooting foul, Burt knocked down one of two free throws. The Blue Devils didn’t waste any time on the ensuing series as Anna Bennett converted a layup for two of her 11 points with 24 seconds showing.

St. Marys had to foul twice to put Williamstown in the bonus, and Burt basically put the game on ice after making both ends of the two-shot foul at 11.3 seconds.

“At halftime, we told the girls that the winner of this game was about getting rebounds and getting the 50-50 balls – Williamstown got the 50-50 balls,” St. Marys coach Fred King said. “That was it. In a game like this one rebound makes a difference.

“We will watch this game and see where we just stood around and didn’t move. It’s about patience, we will get there. Williamstown is good. They got us tonight.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

St. Marys ballhandler Anna Bennett looks for an open teammate as Williamstown’s Maggie Frye defends during Tuesday’s game at Williamstown High School. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)