Lady Indians Open With Loss to Quinter
The Lady Indians were defeated by a good Quinter team in the opening game of the season on Friday night, December 1. The Lady Indians played well, but suffered through a cool shooting evening losing both contests to the visiting Lady Bulldogs. St. Francis was defeated by Quinter in the varsity match-up 43-54. The Lady Bulldogs escaped with an exciting 20-21 win in the junior varsity contest.
The evening opened with a junior varsity game two quarters in length. Quinter jumped out to an early 0-6 getting three quick baskets from three different players to open the contest. The point spread would never be larger in the game. Emma Johnson sank consecutive free-throws and then added a trey to trim the margin to one (5-6). Quinter added an offensive rebound basket late in the period to move the score to 5-8 at the break.
In the second period, both teams were more offensively proficient. St. Francis earned a pair of free-throws by Emma Johnson and then a fast-break score by Jylian Laten. Quinter called time-out at 5:46 trailing 9-8. On the next possession, Andrea Charles scored from the post for the Lady Bulldogs reclaiming the lead for good. Evie Gruenbacher followed with a driving score. St. Francis called time-out trailing 9-12 with 4:55 remaining. Returning to the floor, the Lady Indians scored an easy basket on press offense capitalizing on an assist by Taighe Weeter to Hannah Zimbal. Gruenbacher then added a free-throw and right-wing deuce after an offensive rebound. Zimbal answered with another press-offense basket, this time after an assist by Johnson. At 4:07, Quinter called another time-out leading 13-15. After the time-out, Codi Kentner nailed a right-wing trey and a free-throw extending the lead back to six points (13-19). St. Francis was not about to quit, and soon Alondra Gomez added an offensive rebound score to the St. Francis side of the scoreboard. Johnson earned a steal and was fouled, making one of two. St. Francis then used another time-out at 1:48 trailing 16-19. Unfortunately, after the time-out, the Lady Indians made a turnover resulting in a Quinter score. Quinter then called time-out to talk strategy. On the next St. Francis possession, an assist from Lindsey Johnson to Emma Johnson resulted in another Lady Indian score (18-21). In the closing moments, a steal by Zimbal lead to a pair of free-throws by Gomez trimming the deficit to 20-21. St. Francis called time-out with 14 seconds left. The video below shows the action that resulted in a Quinter turnover.
With 5 seconds remaining, Quinter called time-out to set up defensively. St. Francis earned a good look at the basket, but the try failed. See video below.
Scoring for St. Francis in the junior varsity game were: Emma Johnson 10, Hanna Zimbal 4, Alondra Gomez 4, and Jylian Laten 2.
The varsity game was highly competitive, with both teams executing well for their opening performance of the year. St. Francis earned an early 5-0 lead receiving a right-wing trey from Hanna Bracelin and a lay-up by Reagan Beims after a Bracelin steal and assist. Senior Peyton Havlas, Quinter's strong post player, opened the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs making back-to-back free-throws. Kylie Crist (senior) followed with a lay-up to pull the Lady Dawgs within one. St. Francis added an out-of-bounds play score by Lauren Johnson on an assist by Karly Bandel. Beims then added a press-offense basket to place the Lady Indians up 10-4. Quinter responded with a 9-point run to take a 10-15 advantage getting baskets from Havlas, Crist (trey and deuce), and a right-wing bank-shot trey by Rebekah Kitch (senior). Beims ended the Quinter run with an offensive rebound basket. After a Havlas, free-throw, Bracelin scored in the lane to reduce the deficit to 14-16. Brittney Walt (senior) drained a trey to widen the gap to 14-19 The Lady Dawgs scored again late in the period on a deep-outlet lay-up. St. Francis trailed 16-21 at the break after scoring in the final seconds of the period.
Reagan Beims scored the first basket of the second period on an offensive rebound. Peyton Havlas answered from the post for Quinter, and after a St. Francis turn-over, Evie Gruenbacher (junior) scored on a lay-up. St. Francis called time-out at 6:41. After regrouping, the Lady Indians earned a driving score by Taighe Weeter and an out-of-bounds play basket by Beims trimming the deficit to 22-25. Brittany Walt answered with another banking three-ball. A driving basket by Kylie Crist, a free-throw, and a baseline score by Walt at 3:30 placed the Lady Indians at an 11-point deficit (22-33). Lindsey Johnson ended the Quinter run scoring a free-throw, but Crist followed with a trey from the right-corner. After a fast-break lay-up, the Lady Bulldogs led 23-38. St. Francis used another time-out at 1:37. Only one more basket would be scored in the period; a stick-back basket by Reagan Beims. St. Francis trailed 25-38 at halftime.
The second half opened with a right-wing trey by Reagan Beims (assist Lauren Johnson). Beims then added a right-elbow bucket and Johnson chipped in a deuce. In less than two minutes, the Lady Indians had trimmed the deficit to six (28-32). After two Walt free-throws, and a Crist basket, Taighe Weeter scored on a cut to the hoop (plus one - assist Emileigh Dinkel). Two more Walt free-throws extended the Quinter lead to 35-44. Quinter called time-out with 3:38 remaining in the period. The margin increased to double digits again with the addition of an offensive rebound basket by the Lady Bulldogs (35-46). The third period ended after a driving score by Beims and an out-of-bounds play score by Walt. St. Francis trailed after three periods 37-48.
Junior Andrea Charles added a fast-break basket to Quinter's side of the scoreboard in the opening moments of the final period giving the Lady Bulldogs a 37-50 advantage. Hanna Bracelin followed with a driving score for St. Francis. After a post basket by Peyton Havlas at 4:07, the Lady Indians used another time-out. Reagan Beims then added a basket from the lane to move the scoreboard to 41-54. Though the Lady Indians trailed and Quinter went to a delay game, the Lady Indians did not foul until late in the contest. Lauren Johnson scored on an offensive rebound in the closing seconds. The Lady Indians had done many things well, but Quinter had out-scored the Lady Indians 43-54.
St. Francis was led in scoring by Reagan Beims with 21 points. Hanna Bracelin scored 9, Lauren Johnson 7, Taighe Weeter 5, and Lindsey Johnson 1. The Lady Indians shot a dismal 2 of 10 from the line.
Quinter had three players score in double-figures: Kylie Crist and Brittney Walt each had 15 points; Peyton Havlas added 11. The Lady Bulldogs connected on 8 of 16 from the stripe.
St. Francis will play Wichita County in the North Gym at Brewster High School in the opening round of the Sagebrush Invitational on Monday, December 4. The game begins at 6:00 p.m.
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