Indians battle Eagles
By: Aaron Pyle
As the Christmas Break comes to a close, the St. Paul Indians basketball teams battled with the Olpe Eagles in a non-conference matchup at Billy Fager Fieldhouse.
For the girls’ matchup, the Lady Indians faced their toughest opponent this season as Olpe came into the game ranked #2 in 2A according to the most recent KBCA poll.
In the first half, the Lady Indians held their own against an athletic, relentless Eagles team. St. Paul cut the deficit to as little as three points midway through the second quarter but Olpe’s aggressive inside attack helped the Eagles maintain a 20-15 lead headed into halftime.
Olpe came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half going on a 12-7 run to push the Eagles lead to double-digits. From there, Olpe maintained the double-digit lead for the rest of the game with the Lady Indians struggling to score a basket.
The Lady Indians fell to the Eagles 42-29 suffering their second loss of the season [4-2] as Olpe remains undefeated [7-0].
Senior Emily Hutcherson highlighted the Lady Indians’ efforts finishing the game with ten points. Sophomore Emerald Struthers tallied up eight points in the loss.
On the boys’ side, the Indians faced an Olpe team with only one loss on the season.
To start the game, both teams pushed the pace early with an up-tempo style of play. Jumping out to an 11-2 lead, the Indians struggled to match the high-powered offensive attack of the Eagles. Hitting everything on the perimeter, Olpe pushed the lead to double-digits late in the first quarter and never looked back.
Unable to get anything going on both ends, the Indians trailed the Eagles 36-14 at halftime.
From there, the Eagles kept piling on the points with the Indians struggling to get any flow offensively. Olpe prevailed over St. Paul 68-42.
Senior Adam Albertini led the Indians in scoring as Albertini finished the game with 12 points. Senior Easton Dent also finished with ten points in the Indians’ loss.
Following the pair of losses, the Indians will travel to Pleasanton Friday, Jan. 10 to face the Blu-Jays.