The Perry Jayettes will host 15th ranked Ballard tonight in the annual Coaches vs Cancer Classic.  The Jayettes defeated Ballard earlier this year by double figures and will be looking for their 4th consecutive victory.  The Jayettes have been able to have success thanks to strong role playing by a number of players.  Head Coach Mike Long is 4 wins away from career win 500 and talks about some of his player’s roles.

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“When we talk roles in basketball, everybody has a specific job that they must do.  Some kids will get more shots than others, but it doesn’t make them any less important.  You look at some of our roles, Ashley Davis is a hustler, her job is to come in and mix it up and play good defense and rebound.  Julie Dew is a girl that will get more shots than others because she can put the ball in the hoop consistently.  Amy Markres is one of our better defenders and has to play big to supplement Frankie Eklund.  We count on Markres to run the floor.  Claire (Marburger) and Maggie (Lowe) will get the most shots for us, in fact I’m glad to see Maggie start looking to shoot more.”

Senior Frankie Eklund’s role is to provide strength inside and she says defense is something the coach works on each and every day.

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“Oh my gosh, we work harder than anybody on defense in practice.  It is so important to Coach Long that we play strong defense.  He says if you play good defense, you can beat anybody.”

You can listen to Perry and Ballard tonight beginning at 5:45 with the Perry HyVee Pregame Show.