Tight-knit St. Vincent girls basketball team off to hot start

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As we’re midway through the high school winter sports season, the St. Vincent girls basketball team is proving to not only be one of the best teams in Southeast Missouri, but throughout the entire Show-Me State as well.

The Indians (11-1) were recently ranked No. 5 in the latest Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class 2 Poll that was released Jan. 6. This comes after a 20-point, 48-28 road win over Class 5 Farmington (8-4) two weeks ago on Jan. 3.

Two weeks prior to that to claim its first-ever First State Community Bank Holiday Classic Championship, St. Vincent knocked off then-unbeaten Class 6 No. 8 ranked Jackson (8-1) by 15 points at 48-33 in the title game. The Indians fell to Jackson in last year’s third-place game by 20 points.

St. Vincent reached this year’s championship final with a near 40-point rout of the reigning Holiday Classic champions Class 1 No. 3 Delta (6-2) 68-31 in the semifinals. This was the Bobcats biggest loss since the 2018-19 season as they have made two state final four appearances over the last three years.

So, what makes this St. Vincent squad that only won 11 games last season so special? Fifth-year head coach Mel Kirn said that it’s what all teams should strive for, which is just one word.

“Togetherness — they don’t care who scores — they play together,” Coach Kirn said. “They play together like they’ve been together since they were in kindergarten. It’s just about the way they play, and they care for each other and have each other’s back. They enjoy being around each other.”

One player who’s back from the 2022-23 campaign where the Indians went 24-4 and won their first district championship in a decade is senior forward Allie Patrick. Allie, who broke the program’s single-season scoring record as a sophomore, missed all but four games last season due to suffering a torn ACL.

Patrick is back better than ever now as she’s closing in on 1,000 career points while having two college offers (Division-III Webster and NAIA William Penn) and is receiving interest from other schools as well. Currently, Allie is averaging 10.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game and has knocked down 19 3-pointers.

“Allie has grown so much from her freshman year to now — she is just a leader on the court,” Coach Kirn said. “If we ever need a shot that we’ve got to have, we can line her up to shoot it, and she can shoot anywhere. We never doubt her hustle because she gets in there and fights for everything she can get.”

Two fellow future college basketball players have joined Patrick on the hardwood this season in junior twin sisters guard Brie Rubel and forward Kate Rubel, who both field offers from D-I programs Abilene Christian and UT Martin.

The Rubel twins transferred to St. Vincent from Cape Notre Dame last school year, where they reached the Class 5 Final Four their freshman year, won back-to-back conference and district titles and combined for a record of 43-15 overall.

So far in her first season with the Indians, Brie Rubel leads St. Vincent in multiple categories as she’s producing a team-high 14.1 points, 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game while also having made the most 3-pointers with 20. She’s also hauled in the third-most rebounds (4.9 per game) and has recorded a few 20-plus point outings and double-doubles this season.

As for Kate Rubel, who’s the tallest player on the team standing at 6-foot-1, she currently leads St. Vincent with 13 blocks and is second in rebounds (5.4 per game) and assists (three). Along with that, she’s producing 9.1 points per game (third on team) and 1.9 steals (fourth) and nearly averaged a double-double in the Holiday Classic.

“With the Rubel girls, we have a mix of people that can score different places,” Coach Kirn explained. “Brie is awesome outside — she’s a good point guard out there. She can shoot anywhere, and she can drive. She does a great job of doing that, and she’s not selfish.

“Then you’ve got Kate inside, and we’ve never really had a real tall girl inside that can fight for rebounds like she can… With her and the rest of the team, we didn’t have the rebounding aspect in years before as we have now.”

Another top-notch playmaker is Mizzou soccer commit junior guard Lana Adams, who missed all of last season due to an ACL tear. She was a pivotal part to St. Vincent’s 24-win season two years ago as a freshman and is continuing to make big plays and be a leader for this squad.

Statistically, Adams leads the Indians in rebounds with 5.8 per game and is second in steals at an average of 3.1. Lana is also averaging the third-most assists (2.9 per game) and has St. Vincent’s fourth-highest scoring average (8.1).

“Lana is a leader out there,” Coach Kirn said. “She doesn’t talk a lot, but she leads by example. A lot of teams don’t have two point guards, but we’ve got Lana and Brie out there that both play the position. They bring good pressure and put pressure on the ball. Lana gets a lot of steals with her quickness, and that quickness shows because Mizzou wanted her on that soccer field. She’s been blessed with a lot of athletic ability.”

One player that had to step up last season without any of the four players mentioned above as a sophomore was junior guard Rylee Robinson. Nonetheless, Robinson was an all-conference and all-district selection and hasn’t let her foot off the pedal.

Robinson is one of St. Vincent’s top scoring threats with 7.7 points per game and has hit the third-most 3-pointers behind Brie Rubel and Patrick with 18 makes from beyond the arc. Rylee, who is also a standout on the pitch with Adams, has also hauled in 4.1 rebounds each game and come up with 1.6 steals.

“Rylee stepped up as a big leader and made some huge shots for us down the road last year,” Coach Kirn said. “She’s got a sweet 3-point shot — I mean, we’ve got an offense. We move the ball really quick and find the open person, and she can handle the ball very well.

“She’s probably one of the better defenders we have, too, with Brie, Haley [Emmendorfer] and Lana putting pressure on the ball. We usually try to put Rylee on one of the better players on the other team. She’ll wear them out before the game is over because she’ll never quit hustling.”

Moving to the bench players who play starter minutes have been seniors forward Mallory Patrick, who is Allie’s triplet sister, and guard Haley Emmendorfer. With her passionate effort on the court, Patrick is on pace to break the program’s all-time rebound record, while Emmendorfer is continuing to be quite the lethal shooting threat for St. Vincent.

“Mallory is the kind of person you want on your team — she doesn’t complain, and she knows her role,” Coach Kirn said. “She goes down there and buckles down, and I tell you what, if you’re gonna get a rebound over Mallory, you’re gonna earn it.
“Haley is my niece, and I told her she was going to be a big part of this team because she was a starter all the way up till this year. With Haley, it’s like bringing another starter off the bench. When you have a player that can come off and bench and hit 3-pointers like she does, it really gets your team motivated and going.”

This week, the Indians are set to return another senior in forward Alivia Ellis, who missed the first 12 games with a shoulder injury that she suffered in the preseason. Coach Kirn says that Ellis is comparable to a player like Mallory Patrick due to the effort she will bring each time she’s on the court.

“When Alivia and Mallory come in, they’re going to fight,” Kirn said. “She knows her role and is going to give someone a break because all of these girls can all play the same spots. It’s a great time for her to come back, and I’m looking for some good things from her. She’s been with us since day one, too, and she’s worked her tail off to get better and has gotten better.”

Outside of these eight upperclassmen, St. Vincent has made plenty of use of a quartet of sophomores in guards Aubrey Emmendorfer, Paige Leible, forward Grace Jenneman and post Sophie Verseman. Emmendorfer and Verseman were both members of the St. Vincent volleyball team that made the state final four this fall along with Aubrey’s older sister Haley, the Rubel twins and the Patrick sisters.

Tomorrow evening on their home court, the Indians will start JCAA Small-School Conference play against Grandview (2-5). This will be St. Vincent’s first game since its marginal road win over Farmington due to the recent winter weather.

“This team is a coach’s dream because I have girls that want to play together, be together and do things together,” Coach Kirn said. “When I started coaching, I always said, ‘When you come through that gym, have a smile on your face and want to be there,’ and these girls truly have fun together.

“I do not like running at the end of practice — I never liked it when I played, so I’ve always told the girls, ‘If you work hard during practice and do all the drills hard, the running is up to you.’ So far this year, I think we’ve had to run one time.

“When you look at these girls, and they’ve got water running off them because they’re sweating and working hard, what more do you want? That’s the coach’s dream. You want these girls to work hard because the harder you work in practice, it makes it that much easier in a game.”