Girls Earn First Wins of Season
Team Continues to Show Improvement
The St. Francis Junior High girls basketball teams earned their first wins of the season on Thursday, February 11, when they defeated the Quinter teams in St. Francis. St. Francis won both the A and B contests with spirited play and good execution.
In the A-team game, the young Lady Indians jumped out to a 10-7 lead by the first quarter break. Quinter regained the lead (15-16) with 2:16 remaining in the second period, but the Lady Indians recovered and led going into the locker room 20-16.
After three quarters of play, Quinter led 22-28. Both teams had several players in foul trouble. With 4:29 left in the game, the lead was 26-33 Quinter. Aly Schlepp made two free throws to narrow the lead to five points, and Justice Wiley made a basket to cut the lead to 30-33. Another free throw by St. Francis and a rebound basket by Aly Schlepp placed the Lady Indians in great position to win the contest.
With the score tied at 33, Kyla Bandel sunk a free throw to give the Lady Indians their first lead since early in the second half. The missed second attempt was rebounded by Schlepp who was fouled on the put-back attempt. Aly calmly made both free throws to advance the Lady Indian's lead to 36-33 with less than two minutes to play. Bailey Merklin scored a basket at 1:39 to extend the lead to five points. Aly then hit two more free throws to give the girls a 40-33 lead. After a Quinter basket, Kyla Bandel sunk one more free throw to give St. Francis a total of 41 points. Quinter hit a last-second trey to make the final score 41-38.
Aly Schlepp led the team in scoring with 13 points and also had many rebounds. Kyla Bandel scored 10 and McKayla Taylor 8. Also scoring in the game were Justice Wiley 5, Randee Grover 2, Bailey Merklin 2, and Brianna Cooks 1. Kuntz led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points.
The B-team girls also won their game against the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Indians led 14-8 at halftime. With some excellent play in the third quarter, the Lady Indians extended their lead to 26-9 after three quarters and won the contest 27-15.
Scoring in the contest Justice Wiley 7, McKayla Taylor 6, Brianna Cooks 6, Echo Jones 4, and Kyla Bandel 4. Quinter scoring was led by Woolf with 7 points.
The girls will Decatur County in St. Francis on Thrusday, February 18th.
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