CAPE GIRARDEAU — There was no holiday magic this time for the St. Vincent Lady Indians as they suffered a 40-38 loss to undefeated Jackson in the championship game of the First State Community Bank Holiday Classic at the Show-Me Center on Dec. 18.
With the score tied 38-38 in the closing seconds, Jackson junior Addison Henderson scored on a putback with less than three seconds to go to give Jackson a 2-1 edge over the Perryville-based Lady Indians and the title they lost to St. Vincent a year earlier.
It marked the first time Jackson had won the FSCB title in nine years.
“We didn’t play our best game,” said St. Vincent coach Mel Kirn. “We held Jackson to their lowest score of the year. There in the fourth quarter, we had a couple of turnovers when it was about five minutes to go in the game, but our girls, they fought. They fought until the final buzzer.”
Jackson (8-0) led by one point at the half, 14-13, but St. Vincent (4-3) rallied after the break to take a short-lived 27-26 lead after three quarters.
“There wasn’t much scoring,” Kirn said. “They outscored us in the fourth quarter, 14 to 11. It was a good game. It was one that we could have won if everything would have fell right.”
That’s what happened in 2024 in the FSCB championship round, when the Lady Indians claimed their first-ever FSCB title with a 48-31 victory over Jackson. A year earlier, St. Vincent lost to Jackson 51-32 in the third-place game.
“They have a good team,” Kirn said. “We had some really good shots. Our girls worked hard. Aubrey Emmendorfer and Paige Lieble did an awesome job [containing] their number-one scorer out there. They held her down pretty good for us.”
Henderson led Jackson with 13 points, followed by Jayla Smith with 10.
For St. Vincent, senior Kate Rubel led the way with 16 points and 7 rebounds, followed by fellow senior Brie Rubel with 8 points and 6 assists. Senior Lana Adams had 7 points and 8 rebounds.
“I was proud of the girls,” Kirn said. “We won it last year against Jackson — we won by 15 — but it just seemed like this just wasn’t going to be our night. We had some nice shots that went in the rim and bounced back out. It was just one of those nights. We took it right to the time limit, and we just couldn’t pull it off. Our girls, they get out there and scrap with it. I was really proud."
After the game, the all-tournament team was announced, and three St. Vincent players — Brie Rubel, Kate Rubel and Adams — were among the honorees.
"We were the only team that had three placed on the all-tournament team," Kirn said. "I was pretty proud of that."
St. Vincent will remain idle through the holidays, returning to competition on Jan. 2 to take on St. Elizabeth (8-0) and then Tipton (3-4) on Jan. 3 in the Tipton Latham Shootout in Tipton. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 2:30 p.m.
Until then, Kirn said his team has earned some time off despite breaking their four-game win streak.
"We're going to give them about seven or eight days off to just enjoy their holidays," Kirn said. "We've got a little work thing for them to do at home, and we'll do a little practice. Hopefully, we'll bounce back. I'm not worried about these girls. They've got big hearts, and they know what's ahead of them. We're still trying to get it all together, and I think we'll be pretty darn good."
