St. Vincent rides early lead past Perryville girls

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The grimace on St. Vincent senior Liz Martin's face couldn't keep her excitement from showing as she talked about how much it means to her and her teammates to beat crosstown rival Perryville.

"We lost to them last year, so it was very nice," Martin said after St. Vincent defeated Perryville 54-38 on Saturday evening at the Perry Park Center.

Martin was a perfect 6 for 6 from the free-throw line to help her team protect an eight-point lead it had built through the first two quarters.

Martin fell to the floor in pain as the final buzzer sounded after rolling an ankle that she had injured slightly earlier in the game.

Indians coach Terry Wengert believes the injury to Martin isn't serious, much to her relief, since her team has suffered a rash of recent injuries and illnesses. St. Vincent dressed only seven players for the game.

Senior guard Nikki Julian suffered a mild concussion earlier this week against Herculaneum, and junior Chelsie Boxdorfer, a starting guard, has been out with mononucleosis. Another Indians player, sophomore Storm French, saw limited action against Perryville in her first game back after undergoing an appendectomy.

Wengert lauded her team's effort despite the fact that many players logged more minutes than normal due to the short bench.

"They played very hard the whole game," said Wengert, whose team improved to 12-6. "I'm thrilled with the effort."

Wengert said she believes adversity has brought her squad closer together.

St. Vincent's active zone defense took away Perryville's inside game. Attempts by the Pirates to dribble or pass the ball into the paint usually resulted in turnovers, and Perryville never shot well enough from the outside to force St. Vincent to abandon the zone. Junior Kali Wingerter was particularly strong on defense near the basket for St. Vincent.

"We talked about it in practice," Wengert said of her team's defense. "Our girls stepped up to meet the challenge."

Perryville endured a drought of more than seven minutes without a bucket in the first half as St. Vincent built an 11-4 lead after one period.

The Pirates squandered an opening to get back into the game from the foul line, as they made only 1 of 6 attempts in the second period and trailed 23-15 at the intermission.

In the second half, sophomore guard Courtney Heberlie led the way as St. Vincent grew its lead to double digits. A free throw by Heberlie with 3 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third period followed by a 3-point bomb by her 24 seconds later gave the Indians a 35-16 lead, their biggest of the night.

Perryville made a fourth-period run as Megan Moldenhauer's 3-pointer cut the lead to 10 with just less than three minutes left.

But Martin, Heberlie and Wingerter combined for a perfect 10 for 10 free throws to ice the game.

Wingerter led St. Vincent with 16 points.

Perryville 4 11 10 13 -- 38

St. Vincent 11 12 17 14 -- 54

PERRYVILLE (38) -- Courtney Borden 5, Abbie Schilli 2, Natalie Hagan 2, Megan Moldenhauer 9, Lilly Johnson 3, Emily Hanquist 14, Natalie Bauwens 5. FG 16, FT 5-14, F 17. (3-pointers made: Moldenhauer. Fouled out: Hanquist)

ST. VINCENT (54) -- Courtney Heberlie 12, Liz Martin 9, Kayla Seabaugh 5, Storm French 2, Kelci Besand 2, Ashley L'Hote 6, Kali Wingerter 16. FG 19, FT 15-23, F 14. (3-pointers made: Heberlie. Fouled out: none)