Girls Win Another Close Contest
Boys Lose at Idalia
The St. Francis Lady Indians stretched their win streak to three games with an exciting victory over the Idalia Lady Wolves in Colorado on Tuesday, January 12th. Idalia jumped out to 9-15 lead after one quarter of play. The Lady Wolves extended their lead in the second quarter by causing several turnovers with their full court pressure. The Lady Wolves also scored on several breakaway baskets when they beat the Lady Indians down court. The Lady Indians trailed 13-27 with 4:02 left in the first half and by a 17-33 score a few minutes later. The Lady Indians caused a few turnovers in the closing minutes of the half and converted them to baskets to cut the lead to 26-35 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Lady Indians continued to play better and continually cut into the deficit. The lead was trimmed to 33-39 with 4:09 and stood at 39-45 at the end of three quarters.
The Lady Indians continued to hustle hard defensively and held the Lady Wolves to one shot attempt on most possessions by hitting the boards aggressively. The lead was trimmed to five points (40-45), but then the Lady Wolves got a couple baskets to stretch the lead back to nine (40-49). With 3:43 remaining, the Lady Indians had trimmed the lead to three (46-49) and then to one (48-49) with 3:09 on the clock. A free throw by Christina Hilt tied the game at 49. Christina later connected on two more shots from the charity stripe to to give the Lady Indians a 51-49 lead. Kaitlin Figgins made a free throw to extend the lead to 52-49. Sarah Trembly made two free throws to give the Lady Indians a five point lead with about a minute to go. Idalia followed with a basket and free throw to cut the lead to 54-52 with 37 seconds remaining. A St. Francis turnover and foul allowed the Lady Wolves to tie the game at 54. Sarah Trembly drove to the basket and was fouled with 21.5 seconds remaining. She hit one of her attempts to give the Lady Indians a 55-54 lead. Idalia committed a backcourt violation with 12.3 seconds remaining. Idalia fouled with 10.7 seconds left, but the Lady Indians missed both free throws giving the Lady Wolves a chance to win the contest. The last attempt by the Lady Wolves rimmed off and was rebounded by Kaitlin Figgins to seal the victory.
Idalia's Samantha Cure led all scorers with 27 points. Weyerman added 13 for the Lady Wolves. The Lady Indians were led by Kaitlin Figgins with 17 and Christina Hilt with 13 points respectively.
Idalia won the junior varsity girls game. The game was played as three eight minute quarters. The JV Lady Indians lost by a score of 14-23.
In varsity boys action, the Indians could not get much going against the relentless defensive pressure applied by the Wolves. The Wolves used a combination of 2-1-2 zone press and man-to-man run and jump to confuse the Indians and place a premium on ball handling. Idalia jumped out to a 4-17 lead at the end of one quarter.
The Indians drew several fouls from the Wolves and connected on many of their free throws to cut the deficit to 13-23 with 3:30 remaining in the half. The Indians cut the lead to six (19-25) with 1:45 remaining, but that is as close as the Indians would get on this night. Idalia made three more quick baskets to extend the lead to 19-31 and halftime.
The Wolves continued their excellent defensive pressure throughout the second half. The Indians found it hard to get a good look at the basket. The Indians did not score until 3:11 in the third quarter. By that time, the Wolves were in control 21-39. The Indians trailed 21-42 after three quarters of play.
The Indians had numerous turnovers in the fourth quarter and failed to score again until 1:01 remained in the game. The Indians lost to a good Idalia team 25-48.
McDonald (15) and Marostica (14) led the Wolves in scoring. Matt Raile and Garrett Figgins each had 8 points for the Indians.
Coach Jeff Beims made the following comments on the game:
"We got blindsided Tuesday night by a very good defensive team in Idalia. During the game I remember thinking they play defense the way I want us to play defense: A kind of in your face, pressure style that we struggled to score against. Even though we only traveled a few miles west, it may as well have been a different planet. Colorado plays a much more physical game than we do. Personally I kind of like that type of basketball, but we weren’t prepared for it. It stunned us early on and we never really recovered. We can take some valuable lessons from this game, and hopefully apply them later in the season."
The junior varsity boys game was played as four six-minute quarters. St. Francis won the junior varsity game 30-19. The game was tied at 2 after one quarter. The Indians trailed 6-9 at halftime, but led by one (14-13) after three quarters. The Indians outscored the Wolves 16-6 in the fourth quarter to take the win.
Next action for the team will be on Friday, January 15th, when the teams travel to Oakley.
