SV girls get on winning streak

The St. Vincent girls basketball team finds itself on a winning streak. The Indians snapped a four- game losing streak against high quality opponents and are back in the winning column.
The girls defeated Valle Catholic 48-47 on Jan. 8, and followed that up with a dominating 61-29 victory over Grandview Jan. 11.
“We find ourselves on a little winning streak here,” St. Vincent coach Mel Kirn said. “We played some good basketball and found ways to win.
Against Valle Catholic, the Indians took advantage of a violation by the Warriors with four seconds left in the game trailing 47-46. Senior Cailyn Prost missed a shot that rolled off the rim and Mallory Patrick came away with the offensive rebound and was fouled with 1.1 seconds remaining. Patrick hit both free throws to secure the victory.
The Indians could not hit a shot in the first half of that contest, scoring just 17 points in the first half and trailed by double digits at the break. St. Vincent shot 27 percent for the game and made just two three-point shots in the contest. With the long distance shots not falling, the Indians got to the line 31 times in the game, sinking 20 of them, none bigger that Patrick’s to secure the win.
Rylee Robinson had 18 points to lead the Indians, while Prost had 14 and Patrick had six points in the game.

“We found a way to win that game,” Kirn said.
The Indians had no such problems with Grandview as St. Vincent put on “the best defensive performance” he’s seen in his four years as head coach of the program.
St. Vincent held Grandview to 11 points in the first half and was able to put points up in bunches, leading by 36 at the half. St. Vincent forced 13 turnovers and won the rebounding battle 37-27 over the Eagles.
Patrick had 12 points, while Prost and Robinson had 11 and Alivia Ellis had 8 points and 13 rebounds.
The Indians have had to adjust on the fly this season after losing its two leading scorers to injury from last season’s district title squad.
“I think we had adjusted well. We’ve relied more on our post players,” Kirn said. “Whenever we get into a close game, we have to be able to execute. We aren’t going to be in too many blowout situations for the rest of the season.”