Saints march by Scotties

The sixth-seeded St. Margaret’s girls basketball team was pumped up after going on a 7-0 run to close the first quarter of its LIS Tournament first-round matchup at No. 3 St. Anne’s-Belfield on Monday. That would be just about all the Scotties would celebrate in the end, as the Saints got a dominant collective output from its usual suspects — as well as a glimpse of the future — in a 60-18 rout to set up a third meeting against No. 2 Collegiate this afternoon.

STAB (12-9) used big runs in each quarter, much of which came from intense defense and takeaways, and wound up with 26 steals on the night. The Saints allowed just eight points over the final three quarters, including a blanking of the visitors in the fourth, when four recent call-ups from the junior varsity squad looked like seasoned veterans in their first varsity contest.

“I think we played pretty well, there’s some things we need to work on and continue, and I saw some good things that should help us tomorrow,” STAB coach Phil Stinnie said after the contest.

Sophomore forward Nkechi Ilang made her presence felt early and often Monday, as she scored 12 points in the first half, six in each quarter. The Saints scored 18 of the game’s first 21 points before the St. Margaret’s spurt concluded the opening frame. STAB answered with a 13-0 run of its own to begin the second, capped off by a Sarah Tolliver 3-pointer, to push the lead to 31-10. The senior guard ended the half with another triple and scored eight of her 10 points in the quarter to give her team a 22-point advantage at the half.

After a Renee Greenslade bank shot opened the scoring for the Scotties in the third period, STAB scored the next 16 straight points, and the starters — who left with a 34-point lead after three quarters — gave way to their newest teammates for the game’s final eight minutes, and the youngsters did not disappoint.

Eight-graders Ashley Taylor and Maddy Hunter, along with freshmen Maddie Mazzola and Emily Battle, played the entire fourth quarter and shut out St. Margaret’s — who still had a few senior starters on the floor — by a score of 8-0 in the frame. Battle led the way with back-to-back buckets to start the quarter with a few blocked shots sandwiched in between. She finished the game with four points, three swats, a steal, a rebound and an assist, while Mazzola added four points in her first varsity game.

Stinnie believes that the new additions will produce tremendously down the road, but also thinks they will be able help with the team’s depth throughout the remainder of the postseason. With five sophomores and two other freshmen already on the roster and contributing, the future looks bright.

“Those young ladies had such a phenomenal year that I wanted to reward them,” Stinnie said of the former JV players. “I think they’ll give us some positive minutes within these upcoming weeks… They’re pretty mature girls and they love basketball, those girls are basketball-first.”

One of the sophomores that have been called upon this season, Ilang, has continually shown signs of improvement. She finished Monday’s contest with a game-high 16 points and a team-best eight rebounds in three quarters of action. Stinnie believes she is coming into her own on the floor.

“She was pretty active today. Hopefully she’ll get that confidence and continue on. She’s gradually getting it. There are some little things that she’s got to get used to and be more focused at all times, but I wouldn’t mind if it clicks now,” said the coach with a grin.

Tolliver recorded 11 steals to go along with her 10 points.

“If she didn’t get it, she got her hands on everything, and that’s the way we need her to play for the rest of the year,” said Stinnie of Tolliver’s outstanding defensive performance.

Sophomore point guard Lexi Mallory got the start with classmate Haley Kent coming off the bench after a long week of national soccer team tryouts. Mallory finished with four points and six assists, while Kent scored four points in her first action in a while. Stinnie is happy to have both near full strength heading into today’s game.

“I let her stay in there a little bit today to get the jet lag and the rust off after playing an intense week of development soccer,” he said. “Having her back, you can just tell, it makes the team look a little more relaxed.”

The Saints and Cougars split the two regular-season meetings, with each team winning on the opposition’s home court. Today’s semifinal will be played at Collegiate — which knocked off No. 7 Covenant, 51-32, on Monday. St. Anne’s took the first meeting on the same court by 14. In that game, Collegiate was without eighth-grade star guard Anna Wilson, who scored a game-high 16 points in the rematch last week at STAB’s Conway Convocation Center in which the Cougars won by 11.