ST. JOHN — A vicious full-court press led to St. John-Hudson High School’s girls’ basketball team jumping ahead 22-6 in one quarter.
The Lady Tigers, who are ranked No. 5 in Class 1A Division-I in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll, had 30 steals in a 62-28 win over Ness City on Friday night.
Ness City is ranked No. 7 in 2A.
“We have gotten out quick in just about every game, but we’ve got to learn to maintain that,” St. John head coach Danny Smith said. “Even though tonight was not a night where we had to do that, but we’re going to face some teams that have the size and the speed to keep up with us. We’re going to have to be able to stay.”
In a 16-0 run in the first period, St. John scored 11 off steals.
Morgan Osborne got the Lady Tigers started with a steal and a quick layup. She scored nine points during the run. Osborne nearly had a double-double with 13 points and nine steals.
“I put a little more pressure on Morgan to score,” Smith said. “She’s not a selfish player. She’s not a player who feels like she has to score, but we’re working on getting her to score more.
“There’s going to be games where she’s going to need to score more to help out some of our other players.”
Teresa Christie went 8-for-11 from the floor on her way to a team-leading 16 points.
Jamie Waters finished with 14 points and eight assists.
Christie followed up with a pair of layups, Waters put in a jumper and Tara Christie made the front end of her two free throws.
St. John took a 44-13 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Lady Tigers added to their lead in the third quarter, and held on to win.
“I was happy with the win,” Smith said. “We’ve struggled with making shots, but we didn’t struggle with 3s tonight. We struggled with the ones around the basket. We just need to get that out of their heads and make them play through that.”
Erin Flax led Ness City with 13 points.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
GIRLS
Friday
At St. John
St. John 62, Ness City 28
NESS CITY
Erin Flax 5-7 1-2 13, Taylor Gabel 0-0 0-1 0, Regan Stiawalt 4-8 1-2 9, Cailin Foos 1-3 1-2 3, Tristan McVicker 0-5 2-4 2, Makenna Fritts 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 10-23 6-13 28.
ST. JOHN (8-0)
Tia Smith 1-2 0-0 3, Jessica Hanson 0-1 0-0 0, Morgan Osborne 5-12 2-2 13, Marsena Irvine 0-1 0-0 0, Jamie Waters 6-11 0-0 14, Tara Christie 1-2 2-4 4, Maddy Lippoldt 0-1 0-0 0, Alexis Witt 2-9 5-6 9, Bre Towers 0-1 0-0 0, Brandi Hanson 1-2 0-0 3, Teresa Christie 8-11 0-1 16. Totals 24-53 9-13 62.
Ness City 6 7 9 6 — 28
St. John 22 22 14 4 — 62
Three-point goals — St. John 5-12 (Waters 2-3, B. Hanson 1-1, Osborne 1-4, Smith 1-2, J. Hanson 0-1, Lippoldt 0-1); Ness City 2-3 (Flax 2-2, Stiawalt 0-1). Total fouls — St. John 16; Ness City 9. Fouled out — None.
