For the first time in school history, the St. Vincent girls’ basketball team will play in the state final four this Friday at Mizzou Arena.
The Indians (26-3) punched their first-ever ticket to state with a 25-point, 64-39 road win over Neelyville (24-6) in the Class 2 quarterfinals after traveling two hours south to play on the Tigers' home court Saturday afternoon.
Following the win, St. Vincent’s fifth-year head coach Mel Kirn described it as the best present he has ever received on what was also his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife Cindy.
Neelyville’s passionate home crowd mixed with a solid portion of the St. Vincent faithful made the Tigers' gymnasium as lively as it could be, which is exactly the type of environment the Indians wanted.
St. Vincent ran out to a comfortable lead early in the contest as it was up 20-8 after the first quarter, nearly holding a 20-point lead at 38-21 heading into halftime.
Neelyville made it interesting in the third quarter as the Tigers actually outscored the Indians 15-12 to trail 50-36 entering the fourth.
However, the Indians' defense held strong like it has all season, keeping Neelyville to just three points in the final eight minutes of play.
St. Vincent’s performance perfectly summed up the way the team has played the entire season — together and selflessly.
Seven St. Vincent players had at least one assist as five of them hauled in multiple rebounds and hit a 3-pointer for St. Vincent to combine for 11 3’s to Neelyville’s four.
Making a game-high four treys while also tying for a team-high five rebounds and five assists was Indians junior Brie Rubel, who scored 12 of St. Vincent’s 14 points in the fourth quarter to lead all scorers with 19 (shot 58.3 precent from the field).
Interestingly enough, all of Rubel’s points came in the second half as Brie’s twin sister, junior Kate Rubel, and senior Allie Patrick picked up the scoring slack through the first 16 minutes, combining for 23 of St. Vincent’s 38 first-half points.
The Indians Big Three of the Rubel twins and Patrick finished with a combined 46 points and seven 3-pointers in the historic win as Allie and Kate paced Brie’s 19 points with 16 (two 3’s) and 11 (one three) of their own, respectively.
“[Our success offensively] is really all about our passing and our teammates being able to feed us the ball and move it around,” Kate said. “We all feed off of each other and just know to relax. We control the speed of the game, and we know that we can control that.”
Brie noted, “When Kate, Allie, or someone is driving [to the basket], we’re all spotting up as shooters, but I know they’re either going to kick it to one of us or make a really good play. I think we did really well in the first half because even though my shots weren’t falling, other people’s were. At halftime, we said we all just needed to come together and really push in the third quarter. That helped me get going and the rest of the team.”
Defensively, Patrick led St. Vincent in steals with three, while Kate Rubel and senior Haley Emmendorfer had two takeaways apiece.
Kate commanded the boards and collected five rebounds like her sister Brie, as did junior Lana Adams, who produced five points and five assists outside of that.
“It was definitely fun and definitely the environment we love to play in,” Kate said. Her sister Brie added, “I was really excited to play in this environment — it’s always fun. Neelyville is a really good team, obviously, so I know we were all excited to play down here.”
Another top shooter from beyond the arc for the Indians was junior Rylee Robinson, as she knocked down three 3’s through three quarters to finish fourth in scoring with nine points.
St. Vincent didn’t allow a single Neelyville player to score in double figures or as many as Robinson. In fact, the Tigers' 2023-24 all-state selection junior Parker Ernst was held to just eight points by the Indians.
Ernst failed to score in the first half as she was sitting on the bench for a good portion of it due to being in foul trouble on her own home court.
St. Vincent’s sister roots outside of Brie and Kate were also strong as Patrick’s sister senior Mallory Patrick was key in several areas for St. Vincent, including having four rebounds and giving Ernst headaches.
“It’s really just about getting an arm in their stomach and boxing them out because I don’t care if I’m shorter than them,” Patrick said. “I will get the rebound, and that’s really just it. I know I’m not going to score the most points because that’s not my role. My role is defense and rebounding, so I’ve really just focused on that this year.”
Mallory, who is the program’s all-time leading rebounder, has put her toughness and selflessness on display all season. Patrick was a full-time starter for St. Vincent last year, but she has instead come off the bench as a senior this winter.
This doesn’t matter to Mallory at all, though, because what’s most important to her is doing what she needs to for her team to win, which is also every other St. Vincent player’s top priority.
“We’re always looking for the open person — we really don’t care who scores,” Mallory said. “One time it could be Brie, it could be Kate, or it could be Allie, Lana, Rylee, Haley, me — it really doesn’t matter. We want the best for everyone, and we just want to win. It doesn’t matter who — we’re a whole team.”
The quarterfinal was the second-straight game Brie Rubel has led St. Vincent in scoring as she put up 20 points, knocked down another four 3-pointers, and shot 66.6 percent from the field for a 59-28 win over St. Paul Lutheran (20-8) in the state sectionals Tuesday at Perryville High School.
The Indians painted the Pirates gym blue that night as St. Vincent fans packed the stands in what was another electrifying atmosphere for these Indians.
Along with star point guard Rubel, who is St. Vincent’s single-season assist leader with 133 and counting, Allie Patrick and Kate Rubel combined for 48 points with Brie’s 20 as Allie produced 15 while Kate scored 13 against the Giants.
Kate recorded a double-double versus St. Paul Lutheran with 11 boards outside of her 13 points, while Adams showed off her passing ability once again by producing a game-high seven assists.
Looking ahead at the Class 2 Final Four, St. Vincent will face off against the 2022-23 state champions Tipton (26-4) in the state semifinals Friday morning at 10 a.m.
If victorious, the Indians would either take on the reigning state champions Skyline (27-3) or Norwood (25-5) for the Class 2 state title Saturday afternoon.
This will be the second trip to a basketball state final four for the Rubel twins as they made it back when they were freshmen at Notre Dame.
Just this fall, Brie, Kate, the Patrick sisters and Emmendorfer all played key roles on St. Vincent volleyball’s state final four team that took third.
“At this point, we’re used to it,” Brie joked. “It is really great; especially to do it with this team really means a lot, and with this school again for the second time this year. I’ve learned to enjoy the experience and enjoy the ride. This week leading up to state, we’re going to take every moment in and every final practice we get with each other.”
Kate added what she learned from her first state appearance, “Don’t take anything for granted — you’re there for two games. It’s nice that you get to play that second one [championship game or third place], but that first one just means a lot.”
Regardless of what happens at state, these St. Vincent Indians will not only forever have a place in school history but in each other’s hearts as well.
“I love our chemistry — nobody fights — there’s no trouble,” Mallory Patrick said. “We just love each other and want the best for each other.”
