By Trent Friedel
Saint Mary’s continued their basketball competition on the road last week against LaSalle and Montgomery. Both Tiger teams are ranked in Division IV with the girls holding the number 7 spot and the boys maintaining the number 2. The men are the district leader and the ladies are battling to remain in contention. Saint Mary’s boys are averaging 65 points a game and can quickly run up a score given the opportunity. LaSalle hosted the Tigers Tuesday night and the ladies were first up to try and pull out a victory on the road after losing a breath taker in overtime at Logansport. Early action had Saint Mary’s up 17 to 5 after hot 3-point shooting from Sarah Gilmore. The lead would remain for the Lady Tigers throughout the game.
They were up by 15 points at half time 32 -17 and walked away with a victory in commanding fashion. Final score was 63 -33 and most of the Saint Mary’s bench saw action in the second half. The boy’s game would be equally as productive for Saint Mary’s with similar results. The Tigers of Saint Mary’s utilized the full court press to stymie LaSalle and walked into the locker room at half time leading 37 – 13. Final score 69 – 28 in favor of Saint Mary’s. In the victory Thomas Howell had another double double scoring 16 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. Jared Elie added 14 points and Bailey Shelton had 13. The second contest of the week had Saint Mary’s making the short trip across the Red River to battle Montgomery. The ladies had attendees on the edge of their seats after not being able to pull away from the home Tigers.
Saint Mary’s would take it almost to the wire before pulling out a five point lead to win 38 – 33. The game was very contentious with technical fouls being called against both teams and that proved to be a prelude to the boy’s matchup. Saint Mary’s boys started play unable to get a substantial score separation from the home team Tigers. With more than half of the first quarter expired Saint Mary’s only had a 2 point lead, score 8 – 6 with 2:49 to play. Jared Elie is fouled by J.T. Turner; he goes to the free throw line and can’t hit either shot. The first quarter ended with Saint Mary’s leading 11 – 9. Turner and Elie would play tight defense against each other for the second half. The gym became a pressure cooker of emotions as the referees would find fault with fans and players alike. A fan from each team was ejected from the gym and a couple of technical fouls were issued on each team. Saint Mary’s would finally pull away from Montgomery on the score board but the gym would remain heated.
The final score was another runaway victory for Saint Mary’s. They won by a final score of 72 – 31 and swell their record 21 and 3 overall and remain undefeated in district 9-0. Pat Walker led scoring for Saint Mary’s with 19 points and he was assisted in scoring by Elie and Parker Bankston each with 15.
The Tigers have one more road game at Many before returning home to play Winnfield Tuesday night.
