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The St James Lady Trojans 8th Grade basketball team continued their winning ways Tuesday evening as they defeated the St Marys/St Augustine Angels 25-18. After losing their season opener the Lady Trojans are on a tear, winning five straight to improve to 5-1.
The SMSA Angels came out determined to take the game early from St James, as they scored the first points of the game and implemented a full court press that they would use for most of the game. While the press slowed down the Lady Trojans it did not keep them from moving the ball down the floor against the Angels defense. Both teams had difficulty scoring in the first quarter as the Angels found it difficult to work the ball against the Lady Trojans defense and St James could not get shots to fall. The score was 2-2 midway through the first quarter and SMSA led 4-2 at the end of the quarter. St James Lady Trojans Coach Kevin Colbert said, “SMSA works hard. They played real aggressive defense tonight and we just weren’t ready for that in the first half.”
The Lady Trojans trapping zone defense was effective but fouls were sending the Angels to the free throw line. SMSA converted on less than half of their free throw attempts and that kept St James in the game. St James was successful at working the ball in the middle but could not turn the opportunities into points and SMSA was figuring out ways to score and were leading 6-5 with 4:20 left in the half. The Angels kept things alive with their hustle and led 10-7 at halftime.
Both teams traded scores as the third quarter began and St James seemed to be turning up the intensity. The Lady Trojans worked their way to their first lead of the game 13-12 with 4:50 left in the third quarter. The pace of the game had picked up as the lead changed hands a couple of times but the Lady Trojans kept the pressure on the Angels and held the lead 17-16 after three quarters. They would not relinquish it again. Coach Colbert said, “We were able to start running a little bit in the third quarter and that’s really an important part of our game.”
The Lady Trojans’ pressure defense began to pay off big as St James opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run. The Lady Trojans turned Angels turnovers into points as time and again SMSA failed to get back on defense. The beneficiary was the Lady Trojans’ Katie Nagel who scored the Lady Trojans first six points of the quarter on breakaway lay-ups. The Angels finally called timeout with 1:54 left in the game with St James leading 25-16. SMSA got their first score of the fourth quarter with :55 left in the game and that’s how it ended 25-18, St James Lady Trojans get the win.
The St James Lady Trojans were led by Katie Nagel with 10 points (6 in the fourth quarter), Mackenzie Weilbacher with 8 points (6 in the third quarter) and Maddie Weilbacher with 5 points. Coach Colbert said, “Katie is very important to us offensively and defensively. She does a nice job and she works hard all the time. Mackenzie is usually our most reliable scorer but everybody pitched in one way or another tonight.”
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