St. James best in tourney, Hunters take third

PARK HILLS ‘” The St. James Lady Tigers left no doubt they were entitled to the girls championship of the 53rd Annual Bob Sechrest, Jr. Central Christmas Tournament as they jumped out to a 19-1 lead in the championship game on New Year’s Eve.

The Lady Tigers cleaned up their sweep of the tournament with a 63-21 win over the Bismarck Lady Indians.

A strong full-court press by St. James created havoc for the Lady Indians ballhandlers as they turned the ball over nine times leading to a score each time for the Lady Tigers. St. James was 9-12 on their shots from the floor with several coming from 12-15 feet away.

The Lady Tigers finished the game shooting 69 percent from the floor (27-39) to improve their record to 10-1 on the season.

Due to the turnovers, the Lady Indians were only able to get off three shots in the first six minutes of the quarter and only three free throws by their top scorer Brooke Taylor were tallied on their side of the scoreboard.

St. James pulled off the press late in the quarter, but they kept up a shadowing defense on Taylor throughout the game holding down her 32-point average to only 14 for the night. Bismarck (5-2) struggled from the floor with only a 4 of 18 first half.

Taylor made three of the shots and scored half of her points in the second quarter. Cassie Fenwick had two field goals for the Lady Indians with one each in the second and third quarters, and Holly Blunt made one in the third quarter.

Once they had the ball the Lady Tigers took care of it with only seven turnovers in the game. St. James shared its scoring opportunities with nine players recording points, but Rachel Connell stood out as their top scorer with 21 points, 13 in just the first quarter of play. Four players combined to score Bismarck’s total of 21 points.

With the running clock being utilized in the fourth quarter, the Lady Indians were unable to score in the eight-minute period as St. James defense negated any substantial scoring attack.

Bismarck will be off until Thursday when they will host Kingston.

Bismarck 3 10 8 0 – 21

St. James 23 18 15 7 – 63

Scoring:

Bismarck – Taylor 14, Fenwick 4, Blunt 2, Wade 1. 3-pt. FG – none

St. James – Connell 21, Harris-Conway 10, Herode 8, Hughes 8, Bowen 6, Marshall 6, Hoener 2, Hauck 2. 3-pt. FG – Connell.

Ste. Genevieve 52, Fredericktown 34

The Ste. Genevieve Hunters were able to pull out in front to start the game, but the Fredericktown Lady Cats fought back to make it a one-point game on A three-pointer by Allison McDowell early in the second quarter. It would be the closest the Lady Cats would get as the Hunters pushed out to the lead again and go on for a 52-34 win in the third-place game.

Megan Schenck had her sights set hitting three-pointers in each of the first, second and fourth quarters to finish with a total of 17 points to lead the Hunters in scoring. Holley Fox took care of things inside the paint with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lady Cats struggled from the floor in the first quarter with a 3-14 performance, but a rash of points led by Kylie Oertel and McDowell put the Lady Cats back in the ball game.

Oertel made several of her baskets in transition as she scored 13 points to be Fredericktown’s top scorer with eight rebounds and four steals to lead both of those categories, too.

Ste. Genevieve, 8-1, kept a constant attack on offense to once again pull away, this time permanently.

Ste. Genevieve will be at Perryville on Monday, and Fredericktown will host Cape-Notre Dame on Thursday.

Ste. Genevieve 14 13 15 10 – 52

Fredericktown 8 14 8 4 – 34

Scoring:

Ste. Genevieve – Schenck 17, Fox 11, Meyer 8, Ritter 6, Rhodes 6, Campbell 4. 3-pt. FG – Schenck 3.

Fredericktown – Oertel 13, McDowell 9, Ward 8, Moser 2, Denmark 2. 3-pt. FG – none.

Potosi 44, Central 39

The Potosi Lady Trojans and the Central Lady Rebels battled to a tie at the end of regulation, and Potosi became only the second team to win an overtime game in the Central Tournament as they scored nine points in the extra period to Central’s four for a 44-39 win. The only other team to win in overtime was the Potosi Trojans.

It was a one or two point game most of the way for the two teams, until Central pulled to a slight lead at the end of the third quarter. A three-pointer by Ashley Duncan knotted the score at 31-31 to start the fourth quarter.

Both teams struggled in the fourth quarter with the Lady Trojans taking the lead and Central tying it up at 35-35 on a free-throw by Melanee Cunningham. Central did not score a field goal in the fourth quarter and only one in overtime. Both teams turned the ball over, but Potosi would get off two shots just before the game-ending, buzzer sounded. Both shots missed.

Potosi’s defense denied the Lady Rebels access to the basket in the extra play. Central got off its first shot with only two minutes left. As the Lady Trojans lead increased and time begin to diminish, the Lady Rebels began to foul, and the lead increased instead.

Ashley Thompson led all scorers with 16 points for Potosi. Alison Fischbeck, who had three straight baskets in the second period for the Lady Rebels, led her team in scoring with 10 points.

Central (3-7) will be back on the court on Monday to host Herculaneum, and Potosi, 6-6, will play its first conference game on Thursday at Ste. Genevieve.

Central 10 11 11 3 4 – 39

Potosi 8 12 8 7 9 – 44

Scoring:

Central – Fischbeck 10, Me. Cunningham 6, St. Gemme 6, Williams 5, Owens 4, Ma. Cunningham 4, Fields 4. 3-pt. FG – Me. Cunningham.

Potosi – Thompson 16, Smith 9, Harbison 7, Duncan 5, Fitzwater 4, Logsden 3. 3-pt FG. – Duncan.

BOYS CONSOLATION

Arcadia Valley 62, Herculaneum 52

The Arcadia Valley Tigers fell way behind their opponent at the half, but they bounced right back in the third quarter to overcome the Blackcats and go on for a 62-52 win.

Two three-pointers by Chris Robbs. helped the Tigers have a 23—12 third quarters.

The Tigers had solid scoring with Robbs making 16, Blake Walker 15 and Brock Walker 14.

The Tigers scored 35 of their 52 points in the second half after having a very slow start. The Blackcats sensed the Tigers struggle with their shooting, and they poured it on in the second quarter to take a 29-17 half-time lead.

Arcadia Valley, 8-4, will travel to Valle on Tuesday for their next game.