Sometimes in basketball, things just don’t go your way.
That’s what exactly happened to the St. Vincent girls in the district semifinals.
The Indians struggled to score as they fell to New Haven 38-27 in the Class 2, District 4 Tournament on Feb. 21 at Principia High School.
St. Vincent led 19-18 at the half, and sophomore Rylee Robinson scored 17 of the first half points.
“She played really well,” St. Vincent coach Mel Kirn said of Robinson. “We went into halftime and thought that we were right there. We came back out and had a few turnovers to start the quarter and some shots that didn’t go. We just couldn’t get anything going.”
Kirn gave credit to New Haven for holding the Indians’ offense in check.
“They have a couple post players that gave us trouble,” Kirn said. “But we didn’t quit.
St. Vincent struggled offensively and scored just eight points in the second half.
Robinson finished the game with 23, while Aubrey Emmendorder and Paige Leible scored two points each.
New Haven allows about 35 points per game and they used that defense to frustrate St. Vincent all night.
“New Haven did a good job on Cailyn Prost,” Kirn said. “They sent double teams her way all night and she had trouble getting good shots off.”
St. Vincent ended the season 11-14 after winning a district championship last season. The Indians returned every player from last year, but injuries mounted for the team as the season went on. Starting point guard Lana Adams missed the entire season, while leading scorer Allie Patrick played just five games. Haley Emmendorfer missed much of the end of the season as well. All three suffered knee injuries that drastically altered the year.
“When you have three or more players that can’t go at the end of the year that makes a big difference,” Kirn said. “When you’re trying to play your best ball and having to change things around, it can be a problem.”
Kirn gave his team praise for stepping up in their absence.
“We had a bunch of freshmen and sophomores that had to step up and they played hard,” Kirn said.
Prost is the lone senior for the Indians.
“Cailyn will be a loss for us that we will have to try to fill,” Kirn said. “I’m looking forward to next year and hopefully we get everybody back healthy and ready to go.”
