St. Paul girls move on to state semifinals

By Camden McFarland

camden@hometowngirard.com

In round one of the state tournament last night, St. Paul’s Lady Indians stole the victory over St. Johns-Hudson in a very low scoring game.

St. Paul started off on a good note by winning the tip-off, but it quickly became apparent that it would be a struggle to develop an offensive rhythm.

For nearly half of the first quarter, the game remained scoreless, but both teams eventually scored two points each before the end. St. Paul had a shooting-percentage of 14 percent in the first quarter.

St. Paul’s offense picked up enough in the second quarter to catch a 14-9 lead before halftime, but they still struggled with making shots.

The third quarter returned the same sluggish offensive performance from St. Paul, but the Lady Indians held strong defensively to keep the lead with a score of 16-14.

St. Paul wrapped up the victory by outscoring St. John 10-4 in the fourth quarter. The 26-19 victory will advance the Lady Indians to the semifinals tonight at 6:30 p.m., against  Kensington-Thunder Ridge. Thunder Ridge comes in with an identical record as the Indians at 22-2.

The Lady Indians finished the game with 15 turnovers. Katelin O’Brien and Taylor Wiatrak led the team’s offense with six points each.

Regarding the victory, Coach Doug Tuck said, “Both teams struggled offensively and playing in a state atmosphere. We were able to do enough in the end to win it. Tomorrow we will need to handle the ball better and knock down some shots.”

With the win in round one, St. Paul is now guaranteed two more games. Depending on tonight’s outcome, they will either play Saturday for first or third place.