St. Vincent's hot start carried it into the Class 2 District 5 girls basketball championship game.

The Indians jumped out to a 20-point lead at halftime and cruised from there for a 55-30 victory over Crossroads College Prep in Wednesday's semifinal.

"We shot the ball pretty well," St. Vincent coach Terry Wengert said. "We moved the ball well. We were going on all cylinders."

Courtney Heberlie paced St. Vincent with 18 points, while Storm French and Kali Wingerter added 10 points apiece.

"Crossroads, at times, played well," Wengert said. "They had us on the ropes a little while for the third quarter. But we came back out and got right back after it again."

Ashley L'Hote pulled down 10 rebounds and Wingerter added nine as St. Vincent improved to 18-8.

The Indians, the tournament's No. 2 seed, will face New Haven in Friday's title game. New Haven, the No. 5 seed, upset top-seeded O'Fallon Christian 54-37 in Wednesday's other semifinal.

"We're going to have to play a strong, solid ballgame," Wengert said. "New Haven played good tonight. They did everything right and they're very disciplined. They shot the ball well and they did real well on the inside as well."

Wengert warned against looking too closely at New Haven's 8-19 record.

"They play a tough schedule," she said. "Their record doesn't show that they've had that good a season, but tonight shows how tough of a schedule they play."

Friday's girls championship game tips at 6 p.m. at New Haven High School.

Crossroads 6 8 8 8 -- 30

St. Vincent 17 17 7 14 -- 55

CROSSROADS (30) -- Stellie Powers 2, Jessikah Steen 8, Johanna Lowell 2, Danielle Hamilton 6, Meghan McKenna 5, Nell Briggs 4, Charle McRoberts 1. FG 12, FT 1-4, F 11. (3-pointers: Hamilton 2, McKenna 1. Fouled out: none)

ST. VINCENT (55) -- Courtney Heberlie 18, Liz Martin 4, Kayla Seabaugh 8, Storm French 10, Ashley L'Hote 5, Kali Wingerter 10. FG 24, FT 3-7, F 6. (3-pointers: Heberlie 2, French 2. Fouled out: none)

-- From staff reports