It’s home away from home.
Stacia Parsell and her Borgia basketball Lady Knights made themselves comfortable Wednesday at St. Clair, rolling to a 60-33 win over the Lady Bulldogs.
“We shot very well tonight,” Parsell said. “We would like to play here all of the time because we seem to like this gym a lot.”
Overall, Parsell was happy with how things went to open the new year.
“It’s a good way to start 2013,” Parsell said. “It’s been a long break with a lot of time to practice. This was the way we wanted to start the new year.”
Borgia stays away from home for the next week.
“We’re on the road again Friday,” Parsell said. “We’re actually on the road for a while because we have the Union Tournament next week. We’ve got a long time on the road and hopefully we’ll keep these wins coming.”
Borgia visits Archdiocesan Athletic Association Large Division rival Rosati-Kain Friday. Freshman action begins at 4 p.m. Borgia first visited Rosati-Kain’s gym as an AAA member this fall in volleyball and got a hostile welcome.
“The volleyball girls have mentioned it a couple of times,” Parsell said. “They’re ready to get back in there and try to rectify things.”
Borgia is seeded fourth for the Union Tournament next week and opens Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. against Union in the opening round.
St. Clair visited Potosi Thursday. The Lady Bulldogs next play Monday, Jan. 14, at Washington. Junior varsity action begins at 6 p.m.
Borgia-St. Clair
Borgia (6-3) scored the first five points while rolling to an 18-6 lead after one quarter.
“They could not miss during that first quarter,” St. Clair Head Coach Jena Carroll said. “Getting behind early and playing catch up all night was not what we had planned for. We had trouble scoring all night, finishing easy shots or hitting big shots.”
The Lady Knights led 30-12 at the intermission and 43-25 after three quarters.
St. Clair (6-5) struggled to try to cut into Borgia’s lead and never made a significant dent in the deficit.
Borgia briefly led by 30 points in the fourth quarter, but St. Clair cut the final margin to 27.
Junior Janie Arand led the Lady Knights with 23 points in the contest. She was 7-16 from the field, 1-3 from beyond the three-point arc and 8-10 from the free-throw line.
Arand added five rebounds, four assists and one steal.
“We’ve talked to Janie about embracing that role of being the player everyone else is going to focus on, embracing it and taking out as much as she can. She was forced out with a box-and-one tonight. She did a good job getting to the free-throw line and picking up points that way.”
Senior Katie Lindemann netted 11 points with five rebounds and a steal.
Junior Emily Grahl scored 10 points while adding five steals and three assists. She missed much of the first half after picking up two quick fouls.
“Fortunately that didn’t faze us,” Parsell said. “What Emily adds is speed and the tempo of our game is so much quicker with her on the floor. Fortunately, Janie was able to keep things going for us. Katie Lindemann is big for us every single night.”
Senior Madison Wehking and junior Baylee Godat scored five points apiece. Godat closed the game with two assists and a steal while Wehking added three assists, one rebound and one steal.
Sophomores Molly Arand and Cassandra Halsted and senior Morgan Spradling scored two points apiece.
Molly Arand also had four assists and a steal. Halsted added four rebounds and a steal. Spradling had two rebounds.
Also playing were freshman Megan Jensen and junior Alexis Sine.
“We’re starting to find players who can come in and give us good, solid contributions off the bench. Morgan Spradling does an excellent job for us along with Baylee Godat who hit a couple of big shots. Madison Wehking did as well.”
Junior Karissa Hoffman led St. Clair in scoring with nine points, fouling out with 4:48 left in the game.
Junior Alicia York scored eight points for the Lady Bulldogs.
Sophomore Halley Cokley netted five points.
Sophomore Allison Hinson recorded four points.
Junior Hannah Molkenbur, freshman Katelyn Guehne and senior Anna Reed scored two points apiece.
Junior Sam Deason scored one point for the Lady Bulldogs.
“I was happy with the way some of my players came in off the bench to help contribute,” Carroll said.
