The St. Vincent girls ended their season-opening tournament with an exclamation point.
The Indians used a big third quarter to pull away and defeat St. Paul 63-31 in the final game of the 50th annual Valle Catholic Invitational Tournament Thursday. The victory cemented the tournament championship for St. Vincent in yet another runaway contest.
The Indians’ average margin of victory in the three-game event was 32 points.
“I’m not even sure when the last time we won this tournament,” St. Vincent girls basketball coach Mel Kirn said. “It’s been a while.”
Kirn and his team can look at the third quarter as the turning point in the contest. St. Vincent led 30-21 at the halftime break and turned up the intensity at the start of the second half. The Indians went on a 15-0 run to begin the quarter and forced St. Paul into six turnovers within the first 90 seconds. Kirn credited his team’s full-court press for the turnaround.
“We came out in our tempo and made them make mistakes and slow them down,” Kirn said. “As soon as we got a turnover we found the open person and moved without the ball. It was a beautiful thing.”
St. Vincent junior Cailyn Prost and sophomore Allie Patrick led the way for the Indians with 20 points each, while Rylee Robinson added 12 points. Mallory Patrick and Haley Emmendorfer had six points apiece, while Alana Cates chipped in two.
The Indians continued the defensive onslaught for the rest of the second half as they outscored St. Paul 23-4 in the third quarter alone and forced 12 turnovers in those eight minutes. In all, St. Vincent forced 23 turnovers and outscored St. Paul 33-10 in the second half.
“I have a young team with just one junior and the rest sophomore and freshmen,” Kirn said. “They are playing like upperclassmen now. We still have some things to clean up, but we are improving every day.”
Although the game turned in the third quarter in favor of St. Vincent, the first half was back and forth, mostly because of the right hand of Brylee Durbin. The St. Paul sharpshooter scored 11 of the team’s 13 points in the first quarter. However, the Indians locked her down for the rest of the game as she finished with 22 points. She buried a trio of three-pointers in the first quarter but was held rather silent for the final three quarters. Durbin was held to seven points in the second half.
“She was so good, and we had to have someone in her face all the time,” Kirn said. “She is a big part of the team. She made some good shots with people in her face. She would shoot from anywhere out there and we had to be ready. We seemed to tire her out as the game went along.”
St. Vincent (4-0) will continue their season when they travel to Fredericktown Thursday at 7 p.m.
“Hopefully this tournament is a sign of things to come,” Kirn said. “We are playing great defense and sharing the ball. I think if we can keep playing like this, we will certainly be fun to watch.”
