SV girls want to ‘keep winning’ after hot start

With just one junior and 10 underclassmen, probably no one except for St. Vincent girls basketball coach Mel Kirn or the players on his team expected for the season to start out the way that it has.
After a 64-11 victory over Kingston on Dec. 20, the St. Vincent girls improved to 9-1 on the season as they entered the holiday break.
“I was hoping that we could be good this year,” Kirn said. “That week that we played Fredericktown and North County was a very good week for this week and the program. We played those teams 10 times, we each would probably win five games each.”
St. Vincent edged Fredericktown 50-46 on Dec. 8 and stormed past North County 59-35 on Dec. 14.
St. Vincent outscored Fredericktown 10-6 in the third quarter, which proved to be the difference in the contest as both teams scored 15 points apiece in the fourth.
The Indians were down six points in the fourth quarter but came away with multiple steals to close down the deficit.
Allie Patrick sealed the game with a three-pointer with one minute left in regulation to put St. Vincent up by six points.
St. Vincent was 13 for 18 from the free throw line, while Fredericktown was 8 for 17.
“It was a very physical game and you have to be ready to play when you go to Fredericktown,” Kirn said.
Kirn felt like his team handled the anxiety of a close game well, despite not being in that situation yet this season.
“We got shook up a little bit on the press,” Kirn said. “We took a timeout and went over a couple things and adjusted. This group adapted very well and played calm basketball the rest of the way. It’s going to take a lot to fully shake this team, because they have played so many games together and play together so well.”
The team also won the Valle Catholic Tournament to start this season by an average of 32 points in three games. St. Vincent won the battle of the Indians, by splashing home 11 three-pointers which set a school record. The old record was 10 three-pointers set back in the 2017-2018 season.

Cailyn Prost led the team with five three-pointers, while Allie Patrick had three and Haley Emmendorfer had two. Lana Adams added one on the night, one of which four players had double figures in points.
However, the Indians’ only loss was to Farmington 51-36 at Mineral Area College on Dec. 17.
“Farmington has a really good team,” Kirn said. “If we could have had someone who could have handled their post player inside, that game may have turned out differently, but that’s just part of the game.”
Kirn doesn’t remember a team that has started out as well as the 2022-2023 squad.
“This is a great start to the season, but we have to keep it going.,” Kirn said.
The Indians have a chance after the new year once the calendar flips to 2023.
St. Vincent earned the two seed in the Delta New Year’s Tournament and will play New Madrid County Central on Jan. 2. The winner will face the victor between Meadow Heights and Advance/Bell City.
“Meadow Heights has been much improved this year,” Kirn said. “Meadow Heights will be tough to beat.”
Although the host Delta is the team to beat in the tournament.
“They only have one loss to Jackson on the year,” Kirn said. “They will press you, so if we get to play them we have to be ready for that.”
Although Kirn is not counting the victories ahead of time, especially not for that tournament, or the rest of the year.
“We have to keep winning,” Kirn said. The 9-1 start doesn’t mean anything if we don’t keep winning. It looks good on paper, but it doesn’t mean a thing if we lose a bunch of game after Christmas.”