Perry stepped on to the nation's biggest stage against one of the country's top ranked teams Friday afternoon, and the Pumas were excited and ready.

What they weren't expecting was the loss of their leading scorer. 

Only a few minutes into the first half, junior shooting Bella Burcar suffered a knee injury that forced her to leave the game. Facing Archbishop Mitty High from San Jose, CA, Perry regrouped without Burcar, but were eventually worn down, falling 63-38 in its first game of the day at the Section 7 Basketball Team Camp.

Archbishop Mitty finished last season ranked No. 2 by Maxpreps, and are led by McKenna Woliczko, one of the top prospects in the class of 2026. The Pumas found themselves in a tough predicament, but battled on.

"Losing Bella early in the game was tough," Perry coach Andrew Curtis said afterward. "This team is a tight knit group and they really stepped up after Bella went down. I'm really proud of how they regrouped, especially against the No. 2 team in the nation."

Perry--last season's 6A runner-up--never backed down even without its best player.  Archbishop Mitty held a 17-10 midway through the first half, and built a 19 point lead (38-19) five minutes into the second half. But the Pumas clamped down, pulling within 10 (43-33) with just over seven minutes left in the game. But consecutive three-pointers by Archbishop effectively put the game out of reach.

"I thought the way our girls played speaks alot to the culture of this team," Curtis added. "There's no good timing for an injury like that, but our kids had to take on the mindset of stepping up."

Perry sophomore Shau Taylor (1) puts pressure on an Archbishop Mitty player Friday during the Section 7 tournament action at State Farm Stadium. (Ben Stapley/AZPreps365).

 

Burcar leads the Pumas in almost every major statistical category heading into the 2024-'25 season. 

Junior Novelle McQuinston picked up some of the offensive slack, leading Perry with 17 points. Maci Hess had eight points and Hannah Strauss added five points for the Pumas.

McKenna Woliczko led Archbishop Mitty with 26 points while Emma Cook and Devin Cosgriff each added 11.Archbishop Mitty shot 49 percent from the field compared to 32 percent for Perry.

The Pumas had only 90 minutes before its second game--a loss to Williamette High out of Oregon.