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It was a packed house Friday night as the St James Lady Trojans basketball team finished the regular season in style, beating the St John’s Lady Jaguars 39-24. It was “Rock the House” night as Lady Trojan 8th grade players and their parents were acknowledged in a pre-game ceremony.
This year’s group of eighth graders have had a very successful basketball season and have meant a great deal overall to St James girls athletics over the last few years. They are, Carly Bowman, Alexis Colbert, Sophia Hart, Tory Lanaghan, Katie Nagel, Mackenzie Weilbacher and Alexa Wilson. St James Lady Trojans basketball coach Kevin Colbert said, “Every group is special, but these girls are just so close. Aside from being good basketball players they’re just the sweetest kids and I just love them. They’re knuckleheads sometimes but it’s always fun to come to the gym whether it’s a game or a practice.”
The Lady Jaguars won the opening tip and went on to score the first two points of the contest. The Lady Trojans had a slow start offensively although defensively they picked up the intensity early moving to a full-court press. The Lady Trojans have often used the press to create offensive opportunities and it did the trick against the Lady Jaguars. The Lady Trojans went on an 11-0 run to take an 11-2 lead after the first quarter. Coach Colbert said, “We played very well defensively. It was the first time we ran the 2-1-2 all year and we used it because we think we may need it against a few teams in the Diocesan Tournament.”
St James kept the pressure up in the second quarter using the press to create turnovers and their half-court defense to deny St John’s any inside scoring opportunities. The Lady Jaguars were forced to shoot from the outside and never seemed to get on track. Offensively the Lady Trojans started slow in the second quarter with neither team scoring for the first three minutes. But the Lady Trojans were still in control of the game’s tempo and soon got back on track outscoring the Lady Jaguars 7-0 to take an 18-2 lead at halftime.
After their disappointing second quarter the Lady Trojans came out focused and determined. The defensive pressure continued but the Lady Trojans wasted no time scoring in the third quarter. The Lady Trojans scored inside and outside, they scored off of turnovers and fast breaks. They outscored the Lady Jaguars 16-3 in the third quarter to take a commanding 34-5 lead.
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