St. Vincent's dominant second half secures victory over Woodland

St. Vincent Perryville’s girls basketball squad earned a 68-49 win over Woodland High School Wednesday, Feb. 12.

The final margin wasn’t that close, as the visiting Cardinals held a four-point lead in the early going (18-14) and the contest was tied five times, the last occurrence two minutes into the second quarter (20-20) after a three-point play from the Indians’ Kate Rubel.

“We thought we were going to come out there and take it pretty easy and the girls didn’t realize that those girls from Woodland fight, they don’t give up, we had too many turnovers, that’s not our passing game,” Kirn said. “We weren’t looking where we were going and weren’t faking the ball, but we settled down.”

Early on, host St. Vincent found itself in unfamiliar territory, trailing 20-17 after the opening quarter. However, an 11-0 run by the Indians quickly improved their situation, and they maintained a healthy lead for the remainder of the contest.

Overall, St. Vincent outscored the Cardinals 17-5 in the second quarter, giving it a 34-25 edge at halftime. The Indians began the third quarter on a 14-7 run to push their lead to 48-32 but the Cardinals responded with a 9-2 run to close the quarter and get within single digits (50-41). After a corner 3-pointer from Addy Massa got the Cardinals’ within 59-49, the Indians concluded the game on a 9-0 run.

Woodland head coach Paul Lynch said his squad struggled with St. Vincent’s defense, especially early in the second quarter.

“I thought they picked up the intensity a little bit, and we didn’t take care of the ball as well as we had,” Lynch said. “Overall, I’m very proud of the girls.”

Kate Rubel led St. Vincent with 28 points while Brie Rubel contributed 16 points as the Indians improved to 20-2 this season.

“We’re happy with it, it got us our 20th win, we’ll go from there,” Kirn said.

Woodland got 28 points from Mallary Barks. Addy Massa was the only other Cardinal in double figures. She scored 15 points, including two 3-pointers.

St. Vincent was just 4-for-21 on 3-point attempts.

Kirn said looking to the inside was beneficial for his team in getting better shot attempts as the game progressed.

“Getting Kate (Rubel) the ball inside helps a lot, she can jump in there and put it in,” Kirn said. “We were cold shooting from the outside.”

St. Vincent hosts Lesterville Friday, Feb. 14. That contest tips at 6 p.m.

Woodland dropped to 12-9 this season. The Cardinals will host Oak Ridge on Thursday, Feb. 13.

“We’re not going to shy away from anybody,” Lynch said. “Of our nine losses, six of them are against state ranked teams, you only get better by playing better competition, and St. Vincent’s is an outstanding club and we competed for four quarters. It was a 10 point game with about three minutes to go. I was really proud of our girls for competing.