St. Vincent Lady Indians crush St. Paul Lutheran to reach Class 2 quarterfinals

PERRYVILLE — What was billed as a holy war turned out to be an unholy beatdown.

St. Vincent dominated St. Paul Lutheran 59-28 in the sectional round of the Class 2 Tournament on Tuesday, March 4, at Perryville High School. With the victory, the Lady Indians advance to the quarterfinal round Saturday, March 8, on the road against Neelyville.

Brie Rubel scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4 of 5 from long range. Her four assists cemented her status as St. Vincent's all-time leader with 128 through her junior year.

Her sister, Kate Rubel, scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Allie Patrick added 15 points with five rebounds and four assists to form a triangle that few could overcome, especially with the help of Lana Adams dishing out seven assists.

"All three of them usually do not get cold every night," St. Vincent head coach Mel Kirn said. "They try to find each other for the assist and they're always looking for each other, open or whatever, and then you got Lana in there dishing them off."

This game was a blowout from the start. The Indians opened the game on a 16-4 run that lasted the entire first quarter, with Patrick leading the way with seven points.

Brie Rubel was dominant through a 21-point second and third quarter with 18 of her 20 points to put the Indians up 58-21 entering the fourth quarter. The Indians scored one point in the fourth quarter, which was one more than they needed to, and cruised towards victory.

Given the stakes of the opening round of the state tournament, Kirn was expecting more of a battle, not the rout it quickly became.

"Our girls came out pretty aggressive tonight," Kirn said. "They know what lies ahead of them if we can get there and they want to come out and set the tempo of the game. That's kind of what we did. We went to that man-to-man, full-court press and just set the tone, and got some steals and Allie hit some right off the bat and then Brie got hot. So it kind of just fell into place."

St. Vincent has made it to the quarterfinal round for the second time in three years. The players from the first run are older, wiser and stronger than ever, but the additions of the Rubel twins have turned the Indians into a force.

Especially Kate Rubel, who gives the Indians an element to their game they didn't have before.

"We've got a tall center now," Kirn said. "Kate can really get in there and rebound, and that takes the pressure off of Mallory (Patrick) and live a little bit when they get in there to rebound."

A win over Neelyville will send St. Vincent to its first state semifinal in school history. Kirn said the Indians went into the season with three goals; win the conference, win the district and get to the final four.

"Now we're trying to get to the final four," Kirn said, "and these girls are trying to get us there."