Rubel’s big break sees St. Vincent girls knock off Tipton, advance to title game

COLUMBIA — The clock struck midnight on a state-winning Tipton squad and the young buck St. Vincent. Lo and behold, the shoe fit for coach Mel Kirn and the Indians.

Appearing at the MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown for the first time in program history having never even advanced to a quarterfinal matchup, the Class 2 semifinal Friday, March 14, game was the biggest in program history by far. Now, it’ll go down as the biggest win in program history by far.

St. Vincent went into Mizzou Arena and knocked off the 2023 champion Cardinals 56-50 and is headed to the state championship.

Behind an unbelievable 25 points from Kate Rubel, plus another 15 from point guard and regular bulldozer Lana Adams, St. Vincent barreled its way out of an 11-point second-quarter deficit and into the first state championship game for the school in any sport this decade.

It’s safe to say that the year of the Indian just continues to heat up.

“It's pretty awesome, it being our first time here,” Kirn said. “I knew the girls would come in all pumped up and ready to go, no nerves. They got out there and they played tough. Our defense leads into our offense, and it was just a great effort by everybody.”

Rubel, when the rest of the team ran cold, simply could not be denied. When Tipton fell into foul trouble in the second quarter, and the 6-foot-1 Division-I target got into some mismatches, the hot hand just got hotter.

She went 10 of 16 from the floor, with a couple of dimes on top of her 25 points, including a hail-Mary pass 85 feet into the hands of twin Brie Rubel, who hit a go-ahead layup to give St. Vincent the lead at the start of the fourth quarter.

That offensive contribution, plus a four-steal, two-block performance to anchor the defense against a stout post in Ava Schlotzhauer, gave St. Vincent the edge it needed to clinch the biggest win in program history to date.

“When my first shot goes, I can feel it,” Kate Rubel said. “I know where my shot off the glass is, so I just know where to put it.

“It definitely comes from my teammates. Feeding it in and being confident in me, that definitely helps.”

That chemistry became crucial down the stretch. When Tipton couldn’t stop turning the ball over in the final minutes — finishing with 22 overall turnovers — St. Vincent seemingly had a tight-as-ever grip on the ball.

What’s become the hallmark of this St. Vincent team was the deciding factor Friday and, from the sound of it, that’s exactly how Mel Kirn wanted it to go.

“When we came in at halftime, I told them that our defense is turning this game around,” Kirn said. “I said, ‘You come back in the third quarter, win it in the fourth quarter,’ and that's what we did.”

With Kate Rubel and Lana Adams combining for 40 points (71% of the scoring), it left little room for major contributions from the rest — but they were simply invaluable.

Of the remaining 16 points, 12 came on 3-pointers, two from Rylee Robinson, one from Haley Emmendorfer and an all-important splash from the right wing by Brie Rubel, who finished with seven points and a dagger in the fourth.

While Kate Rubel might’ve gotten the shine today, it couldn’t have happened without her counterpart, and that’s certainly the same vice versa.

After seven years in high school, dating back to UT Martin forward Lexi Rubel’s entry at Notre Dame, followed by Columbia College’s Tori Rubel there a year later and the twins three years after that, this marks a first for the famous siblings.

For the first time, those siblings and that family are headed to the state championship game, awaiting reigning champion Skyline at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 15, in the winner-take-all MSHSAA Class 2 contest.

For those two, specifically, and the entire Rubel family that’s worked so hard to get to this point, it still feels a little bit surreal after Friday’s win.

“It means everything to us,” Kate Rubel said. “Like, I was out there crying. It means everything.

“It's just something that we thought we might never get to do. It's something you think that you can't do, and then you do it. It's an amazing thing.”

Now, for coach Kirn and assistant Matt Rubel, the biggest task this program has ever faced in coming, and it’s undoubtedly going to be a daunting one against what’s been undeniably the top team in Class 2 the past two years.

“It's gonna be a challenge, there's no doubt about it,” Kirn said. “Skyline is good, or else they wouldn't be here. We just gotta take it the game at a time, and that's what we've been doing all year long.”

The thing Kirn claims will separate St. Vincent, however, is the content of the team's character and the compassion the players have for each other, which shows in how they play.

With just one win remaining to separate his team and raise the championship trophy for the first time in program history, that’ll need to shine Saturday.

“There's one thing about these 15 girls,” Kirn began. “I think next year, we're gonna put ‘Heart’ on their sleeves, because I've never seen so many girls with such a big heart for their teammates.

“It's not me, it's our team. That's the way we play.”