ST. PAUL — The St. Paul High School girls
basketball team found itself in an unfamiliar position Tuesday —
trailing a team with more than three minutes gone in the first
quarter.
While the Bucks couldn’t find a hoop in the first 3:34 of the game,
Southwest scored the game’s first four points. But when the Bucks
finally got going, they went fast. The Bucks scored the quarter’s
final 16 points and held a 16-4 lead after the first quarter.
Southwest bounced back, though, and sliced the St. Paul halftime
lead to 22-14.
From then on, it was total domination by the No. 4-ranked team in
the state. The Bucks outscored Southwest 12-3 in the third quarter
and 19-5 in the fourth quarter.
“We played really good in spurts, and, at other times, we were
really sluggish,” said St. Paul coach Michael Murphy. “I don’t have
an explanation. I thought the kids played a lot better defensively
in the second half and offensively they started to look for the
things we told them to look for at the start of the game. We got
great looks inside, which is what we thought we would get.”
Murphy said he wasn’t happy with how the Bucks performed in the
first half, saying it wasn’t the team’s best half of basketball by
any means.
“We held them to 14 points, so defensively we were OK,” Murphy
said. “But I thought the problem today was in the first half in the
offense. We were impatient, we were turning the ball over and then
we would have one pass and then a shot or two passes and then a shot
and that’s not when we’re at our best.”
Michelle Wilson and Jenna Schneider, who shot 6 of 12 from the
field, led the Bucks with 14 points apiece. Jordan Murphy, who shot
3 of 5 from the field, added 12 points, six assists, four rebounds
and four steals. Kimmie Ernst added five assists in the win.
Murphy said the play of Wilson was key for St. Paul.
“I thought (Wilson played pretty well,” he said. “She was pretty
solid on the boards and got a lot of rebounds, especially down the
stretch. She’s really starting to step it up.”
The coach said the sky is the limit for the freshman, who shot 6 of
10 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds.
“She’s solid mentally, she works really hard and she wants to get
better,” he said.
Notes: St. Paul shot 21 of 47 (45 percent). The last time the
Bucks met Southwest, St. Paul shot 28 percent from the field.
Southwest shot 8 of 36 (22 percent) for the game. Southwest, which
committed 31 turnovers, was 2 of 20 from the field in the second
half. The Bucks outrebounded Southwest, 28-24.
Patience nearly pays off for Buckaroos in loss
ST. PAUL — Cody Kirk scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half
but Southwest Christian used an 11-4 scoring advantage in the fourth
quarter Tuesday to drop the St. Paul High School boys basketball
team, 53-37.
Kirk dominated much of the scoring for the Bucks in the first half.
In fact, the rest of the team accounted for five points in the first
16 minutes of the game.
“Cody Kirk played very well,” said St. Paul coach Buell Gonzales
Jr. “He did exactly what we asked him to do. He came to play tonight
and that’s what we need from him.”
But in the second half, Southwest’s defense clamped down on the
guard.
“They made a defensive adjustment to not let him get the ball and
then that obviously left others open, which is good, but the others
weren’t making the shots like he was in the first half,” Gonzales
said.
Southwest shot 16 of 26 from the free-throw line while the Bucks
were 10 of 14 — their best outing of the season. But the amount of
field goals told the story of the game.
“We had more two-point field goals than they did, but they hit five
threes and that was the difference in the game,” Gonzales said.
Southwest hit 5 of 11 three-pointers. Gonzales said he knew
Southwest, a team that scored 90 points in a win over C.S. Lewis
Academy earlier this season, liked to shoot the long ball.
“I knew that they liked to fire, but that was the kind of defense
we want to play night after night,” he said. “We didn’t do anything
different than we would normally do. It’s just that it’s starting to
click. They’re starting to get it defensively.”
Gonzales said while every team’s offense dictates its defense and
vice versa, St. Paul, which committed a season-low 15 turnovers,
simply can’t panic in its offense. The Bucks were more patient in
their shot selection than they have been in previous games, Gonzales
said.
“The passes that we made weren’t gambles,” he said. “They were good
passes for scoring opportunities.”
The more patient Bucks saw the concepts of Gonzales pay off
Tuesday. Southwest got out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter
but St. Paul closed the gap, mainly due to not committing turnovers
and its patient offense, to 22-18 at halftime.
“I told the kids that it’s amazing what happens when you’re patient
on offense and that you’re good on defense,” he said. “The way that
these kids work in practice and the way that St. Paul kids in
general work is that they listen and believe in what we’re trying to
do so it’s not difficult for me to have good defensive teams because
they work hard and listen.”
Gonzales said on the offensive side, it’s a simple matter of time
and practice for the Bucks.
“If these kids spend time in the gym working on their shot and on
their ballhandling, then we’ll be really competitive,” he said. “But
as far as this year goes and who we have to work with and where the
kids are at right now, we’ve got to play almost perfect offense in
order to win. I think tonight was as close as it’s gotten for us.”
Pat Charron, who scored five points in the loss, played in his
third game of the season. The senior post played last season but
opted not to go out for the team this year. Midway through this
season, Gonzales said Charron approached him to see if there was a
possibility to return to the team. Gonzales put the decision in the
hands of captains of the team and they unanimously approved of
Charron’s return, Gonzales said. Players, Gonzales said, knew the
decision would cut into their playing time but the decreased playing
time wasn’t a factor.
“Pat already makes us way better,” Gonzales said. “He’s a calming
influence.” |
