St. Paul teams advance to sub-state championship

By Camden McFarland

camden@hometowngirard.com

The St. Paul Indian boys and girls teams marched their way through the first games of sub-state with victories over Lebo High School Thursday, March 1, and Friday, March 2, respectively.

With the St. Paul boys being the number two seed and Lebo the number three, Thursday’s matchup was sure to be competitive.

In the first quarter, St. Paul and Lebo stayed neck-and-neck but the Indians held a one point advantage by posting a 12-11 score.

Lebo stole the lead in the second quarter, outscoring St. Paul 8-5. However, the Indians found a change of pace after halftime and turned the game around.

St. Paul’s offense went wild in the third quarter, adding 19 points to their score, while holding Lebo to seven.

With a 10-point lead heading into the fourth, St. Paul was anything but finished. The Indians scored an additional 21 points, sealing a 57-39 victory and a spot at the sub-state championship on Saturday.

Two Indians broke into double digits in this matchup: Brenden Doherty with 22 points and Caleb Pecha with 14.

The Indians will play as sub-state championship hosts to Southern Coffey County at 7:30 p.m. tonight for a shot at the state tournament.

In the girls’ game, St. Paul was ranked the number one seed with Lebo coming in as the number four seed.

The Lady Indians set the tone in the first quarter by establishing a 17-9 lead.

St. Paul continued to own the court throughout the second quarter, outscoring Lebo again to move the score to 31-17.

After halftime, St. Paul lost no momentum and relentlessly pushed their lead to 46-23 in the third quarter.

To wrap things up, the Lady Indians scored nine more points in the fourth quarter and allowed only five.

Katelin O’Brien showed an impressive performance in this game, scoring 23 individual points for St. Paul.

This 55-28 victory will send the Lady Indians to the sub-state championship game versus Southern Coffey County tonight at 6 p.m.