Collegiate upends shorthanded STAB girls hoops team

The St. Anne’s-Belfield girls basketball team came into Tuesday’s important LIS matchup against Collegiate without leading scorer Haley Kent, and could have used a bit of the sophomore point guard’s shooting touch down the stretch of a back-and-forth affair. In the end, the visiting Cougars used a late run to pull away from the Saints, 47-36.

STAB (10-9, 5-3 LIS) trailed by a sizeable margin early on, but battled back to even things up on a Julia Haney triple, part of a 7-1 Saints spurt that knotted the score at 35-35 midway through the fourth quarter. However, Collegiate eighth-grader Anna Wilson, younger sister of former N.C. State and Wisconsin star quarterback Russell, put her team on her back, leading Collegiate on a 12-1 run of its own to finish the contest and preserve the win.

The Saints made just 2 of 19 field goals in the final period after clawing their way back. 

“It made a big difference,” said STAB coach Phil Stinnie on playing without Kent, who was trying out for a national soccer team. “She’s our leading scorer, she’s one of our better defenders, one of our best passers… She just brings this leadership and energy that the team follows, and tonight we just didn’t have that.”

Collegiate held a 15-6 lead after the first quarter, but STAB outscored the Cougars 13-3 in the second, including an 8-0 run capped by a Lexi Mallory jumper that gave the Saints their first lead at 19-18 with a minute to go until halftime. Wilson ended the run with the Cougars’ lone field goal of the period to reclaim a one-point advantage at the half.

STAB sophomore forward Nkechi Ilang scored 10 of the Saints’ points in the first half. Collegiate went on a 12-3 run in the third quarter to go up by six before Ilang scored the final basket of the frame to close STAB to within four. After a Wilson steal and score gave Collegiate a 34-28 lead, Saints rallied to tie the contest on the Haney 3-pointer with 4:04 to play. The Saints would not make another shot from the field.

“We weren’t getting good looks, we weren’t hitting our shots, and [Collegiate] got the ball and ran fast breaks,” said Stinnie of the late collapse. “[Wilson is] phenomenal, she is the real deal. That kid is wise beyond her years, that’s all I can say.”

Wilson, who scored seven of her team-high 16 points in the fourth, got help from Annie Hawthorne, who added 13, eight of which came in the second half. Ilang led the Saints with 16 points. No other Saint scored more than five, as the team has now dropped three straight contests. STAB hosts St. Gertrude’s on Friday before the LIS Tournament begins next Monday.

“We may be able to see [Collegiate] again, but it will be on their floor,” Stinnie said, noting that the Cougars should have the No. 2 seed locked up, while the Saints are looking at a three-seed. “We’ll just have to see.”