St. Francis falters in regional
St. Francis knew what was coming in Wednesday's game against St. Joseph.
Stopping it became a completely different story.
The Spartans' girls basketball team saw its season come to a quick halt with a 56-38 loss to the host Chargers in the Class 3A St. Joseph regional semifinals.
With tight defense and lightning offense, St. Joseph (12-15) grabbed sudden control. A 22-9 lead grew to 32-13 before the Chargers took a 32-15 lead to the half.
"We expected them to fastbreak a lot, and that's what they did," said St. Francis senior Jamie Stefely, who led the Spartans with 13 points. "We were ready for it, we were just nervous and everything. I think it would have made a huge difference if we could have stopped them in the beginning."
Chargers guard Dee Gray's dribble penetration proved unstoppable at times, whether she finished herself or dished to 6-foot-3 junior Shannika Bryant, who scored 14 points and grabbed 17 rebounds.
"That's always our plan, to go hard and let them know who they're playing against," said Gray, who scored a game-high 22 points. "We just kept on building and playing hard. This is one of our better games of the year."
By beating the No. 10 Spartans (11-16), No. 7 St. Joseph advances to Friday's regional final to play No. 2 Riverside-Brookfield. The Chargers will be vying for the program's first regional title.
"This was a game where just about everyone did their job," said St. Joseph coach Jim Maley. "It is good timing. They kind of came together at the right time."
The timing couldn't have been worse for St. Francis, which tried to rally in the second half. Stefely scored 7 of her points in the third quarter as the Spartans used an 11-4 run to pull within 36-26.
The Chargers, however, recovered for a 43-28 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Kelly Reinke scored 9 points for the Spartans, while Jenny Eldridge had 8 points and 11 rebounds. Megan Bruggeman scored 6 points and Therese Kerr added the game's final bucket to round out the team's scoring.
"That was a pretty big hole to dig out of," said St. Francis coach Leslie Fay-Dehn. "But the kids came out and made a run in the third quarter. Our kids worked hard."
BOX SCORE
CLASS 3A ST. JOSEPH REGIONAL
St. Joseph 56, St. Francis 38
St. Francis - Reinke 3 3-7 9, Morris 0 0-0 0, Bruggeman 2 2-2 6, Eldridge 4 0-2 8, Stefely 5 3-3 13, Pisarski 0 0-0 0, Slavin 0 0-0 0, McShea 0 0-0 0, Harig 0 0-0 0, Torres 0 0-0 0, Kerr 1 0-0 2, Kaiser 0 0-0 0, McMahon 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 8-14 38.
St. Joseph - Koerber 1 0-0 2, Brown 3 0-0 6, Tolbert 2 0-0 4, Gray 9 4-6 22, Bryant 7 0-0 14, Talley 0 0-0 0, Lawson 1 0-0 2, Anderson 3 0-0 6, Wilson-Stewart 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 4-6 56.
St. Joseph 12 20 11 13 -56
St. Francis 7 8 13 10 -38
3-point baskets: None.
Fouled out: None.