St. Paul Indians march past Riverton
By Camden McFarland
camden@hometowngirard.com
The St. Paul Indians’ girls and boys basketball teams moved their records to 5-0 and 4-1, respectively, after shutting down the Riverton Rams last night.
During the girls’ game, St. Paul had no issue on either side of the ball against the Rams.
In the first quarter, the Indians put up 18 points and only allowed Riverton to score seven.
The second quarter was much of the same, as St. Paul scored an additional 13 points. However, the Indians’ defense locked down even further and Riverton was only able to score three more points before the half.
As the Indians entered the second half leading 32-10, they maintained the momentum and scored 13 more points, while Riverton could only manage four points.
St. Paul scored seven more points in the fourth quarter and allowed four, earning the victory with a score of 52-18.
Katie Coomes, Katelin O’Brien and Sydney Rice were the team’s main scorers throughout the night, earning 10, 14 and 11 points, respectively.
On the boys’ side, St. Paul had much more competition. The Indians trailed Riverton 12-14 after the first quarter.
Riverton’s pace held steady through the second quarter as they put up 15 additional points. St. Paul could only find another 12 points and headed into the locker room at halftime trailing 24-29.
During the third quarter, St. Paul’s defense began to lock down, allowing only eight points. Unfortunately, the Indians only scored eight too and couldn’t quite take the lead.
As the fourth quarter rolled around, St. Paul finally found a spark and put up 16 additional points. Riverton did manage to find nine points, but this was not enough to steal the Indians’ 48-44 victory.
Adam Albertini, Brendan Doherty and Caleb Pecca were the Indians leading scorers last night, earning 9, 12 and 12 points, respectively.
Regarding the boys’ win, Coach Keith Wiatrak said, “It’s nice to see that even when we aren’t playing our best offensively, we still grind it out for a win over a quality opponent.”
St. Paul’s next game will be on Tuesday, Jan. 2, at home against Southeast.