The 19-1 St. John Lady Tigers won their third straight game of the week last Friday evening at Macksville, defeating a scrappy Macksville Ladies team, the Tigers slowly building a lead throughout the game, and winning 55-29.
But unlike many of St. John's earlier league match-ups, the Lady Mustangs gave the Tigers a little bit more competition, especially in the first two quarters, staying fairly close and going into the locker room behind by only eight points 21-13.
Coming back after halftime, the Lady Tigers doubled their lead to 16 points in the third quarter.
Starting the fourth, the score standing at 34-18, the Tigers pulled away some more scoring 21 points, tying their first half point total and out-scoring the Mustangs by 10.
St. John's much improved sophomore center Teresa Wade had the game-high for “total points scored” with 19 (not to mention 9 rebounds), scoring four or more points in every quarter. Her teammate, senior guard Brooke Burgan did her part in making 12 points.
On the defensive side, the Lady Tigers' game plan was to eventually wear Macksville down in the later stages of the game, the fruits of their labor starting to show after half-time.
On the Macksville side, junior forward Megan Wood, using her offensive and rebounding talents inside, led the Mustangs with 13 points. Next in line was junior forward Jena Clowers with 8.
Eight Lady Tigers scored: Wade 19, Burgan 12, Jamie Waters 8, Ariel Smith 5, Rhian Collins 4, Christi Milton 3, Abbie Ward 2, and Morgan Osborne 2 with two points.
Scoring for Macksville: Wood 13, Clowers 8, Kira Parr 6, and Courtney Schultz with 2 points.
Neither team shot well from the charity stripe, St. John going 6-15 and Macksville 4-11.
“First of all, Macksville played very hard and played well and that's a credit to them,” said Tiger coach Danny Smith. “This was our third game this week and we just seemed short on energy. We didn't play terrible, but we just didn't play very well.
“When you miss some easy shots and don't hit free throws, it tends to be contagious and spreads to your whole team. I was proud of our girls for playing hard, but we definitely didn't play our best. We have a week off until our next game, so that should help.”
The Tiger gals have so far won 19 straight games this year. They'll have a chance to increase that this Friday in the Claflin Regionals, playing the winner of the Rozel-Pawnee Heights-Chase game at 6 p.m.
