SV girls pull away from Dragons in win

It was a decisive way for St. Vincent to start off the tournament.
The Lady Indians pulled away from Ste. Genevieve in the fourth quarter to capture a 58-43 victory in the Valle Catholic Tournament Monday.
It is only the third victory for the Indians over the Dragons since 2008, but two of those victories have come in this specific tournament (41-38 victory last season).
The experience of playing together for a few years now made the difference Monday in the eyes of girls coach Mel Kirn.
“These girls pull for each other and the more you play together, the better you get with each other,” Kirn said. “We beat a good ball club, who has some good guards and some that will crash the boards. We hung right in there with them.”
Allie Patrick led the way for the Indians with 30 points, while Cailyn Prost and Rylee Robinson had nine points apiece. Mallory Patrick had six points.
The Indians had a balanced attack scoring 12 points apiece in each of the first three quarters before outscoring the Dragons 22-9 in the final frame.
Allie Patrick went 7 of 9 from the free throw line in the quarter, while Prost hit a critical three-pointer early in the fourth to go up double digits and set up the victory.
Alli Byington netted 16 points, and Sadie Greminger produced 15 more for the Dragons in defeat,

However Byington was limited to just two points in the final quarter.
“We switched it up and went to a 2-3 zone and shut them down,” Kirn said. “Our defense set up our offense and we fought really hard.”
Kirn was impressed with Patrick who hit three three-pointers and went 9-12 from the free throw line.
“We will look to her and Cailyn this year to lead up, but Allie had a great game.” Kirn said.
The Indians were fighting foul trouble all night as they had one player foul out and three other with four fouls.
“There was a lot of fouling going on,” Kirn said. “In the second half, we had 12 fouls and Ste. Genevieve had 14, so you can tell that both teams were scrappy.”
St. Vincent (2-0) entered the tournament after a 68-21 victory over Advance on Nov. 22. With wins in their first two games, Kirn has noticed one simple things that has made the difference.
“Teamwork,” Kirn said. “Allie had a great game, but her teammates set her up with a lot of good passes that made this work. They knew who had the hot hand and these girls are not selfish. They don’t care who scores.”
St. Vincent took on Valle Catholic Wednesday and will finish up the tournament against St. Paul Thursday at 6 p.m. St. Paul defeated Valle Catholic 54-25 on Monday.