FRONTENAC, Mo. - Edwardsville's girls basketball team went to West St. Louis County Wednesday night for a game against traditional St. Louis-area power St. Joseph's Academy and went on to take a 51-43 win over the Angels.
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Edwardsville took their record to 19-0 for the year while SJA fell to 11-4.
Getting a win at the Angels' gym wasn't going to be the easiest of tasks going in. “We knew coming in that it's not easy to come here and get a win,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade. “That was what we talked about at the first timeout (that the Angels took after EHS got ahead) was that they weren't going to go away – they battled. Those coaches do a good job with their kids; they're mentally tough and they're going to compete and put it on the line.”
Edwardsville's shooting from behind the three-point arc was good Wednesday, but Blade thought the Tigers were settling for the three-ball opportunities a bit much. “We settled for some at times, I thought,” Blade said, “ and that's what we just talked about; they were giving us the three at any point in time when we wanted it. We need to be a little bit more patient, more selective and see if there wasn't some more gaps to get.
“I thought in the third quarter, we did that a little bit better and then we went right back to the three-ball. We've got some kids who can knock it down; we just have to be a bit more patient and not be quick shooting them up.”
The Angels didn't go away; they kept coming at the Tigers, but every time St. Joe's made a run at Edwardsville, EHS had the answers to hold them off. “I thought the kids answered every time really well because they made three or four runs at us,” Blade said. “I know it got back to six (points) – it may have been a little more than that – but the kids hit some big shots when they did and we got some big turnovers with our pressure at times too.”
Quierra Love led the Tigers with 17 points, followed by Jaylen Townsend's 13 points on the night; Kate Martin added nine and Rachel Pranger eight. St. Joe's was led by Alex Kerr's 15 points, with Annmarie Tyson adding 12 and Annie Lally six on the night.
The Tigers' remaining schedule is within the Southwestern Conference, beginning with a trip to Belleville East at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and a 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 home game against Belleville West. “We'll get back at the grind of the conference next week,” Blade said. “We'll see how that goes, but January's a long month.”
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