DELPHOS — The Lady Jays fell 71-54 in their home opener to Versailles
on Tuesday. Aubrie Friemoth hit five threes and Paige Gaynier had 17
points but St. John’s couldn’t overcome an early deficit.
The
Tigers took an early 6-2 lead in the first quarter before Friemoth sunk
her first shot from long range. The Jays offense hit a dry spell midway
through the quarter as Versailles jumped out to a 12-5 advantage.
Friemoth
and Hannah Will had back-to-back threes and cut the Tigers lead down to
one point. Versailles went on a 9-0 run to close out the quarter and
left St. John’s to overcome a double-digit deficit.
The Lady Jays
made up some ground in the second quarter as Friemoth and Gaynier took
control. Gaynier hit a layup and a three as St. John’s battled back.
Melanie Koenig hit one from long range as the buzzer sounded and cut the
Tigers lead down to four by halftime. Koenig finished the game with 11
points.
Lindsey Winner was on fire in the third quarter, scoring
10 points in the first 8:00 of the second half. She finished the game
with 14 points.
St. John’s was outsized, especially under the rim,
and struggled in the rebounding department. Senior Brooke Stonebraker
(6-3, forward) was a force in the paint and led the Tigers with 17
points.
“I think we checked them out well and tried to push them
out the best we could,” said St. John’s head coach Nate Stant. “They had
us outsized and some of that is just the law of averages. I think we
could have shot the ball better, especially at the free throw line.”
The
Jays went 8-for-13 from the charity stripe, with most of the shots
coming in the fourth quarter and were outscored 20-11 in the final 8:00
of action.
“It’s going to be like this in the league all year,”
Stant continued. “We are trying to defeat size and the other teams will
try to defend that. We try to counter that by spreading them out farther
and making them come out and get us.”
St. John’s falls to 1-1
(0-1 MAC) while Versailles improves to 2-1 (1-0 MAC). The Lady Jays will
be back on the court Monday when they travel to St. Henry.
Score by Quarter
Versailles 21 11 19 20 - 71
St. John’s 11 15 14 11 - 54
Versailles 71
Brooke
Stonebraker 17, Lindsey Winner 14, Caitlin McEldowney 11, Kaylee Braun
10, Danielle Kunk 8, Abby Stammen 4, Kate Griesdorn 3, Emma George 3
St. John’s 54
Paige Gaynier 17, Aubrie Friemoth 17, Melanie Koenig 11, Hannah Will 5, Erika Moenter 2, Elly Wrasman 2
*****
Junior Varsity
Versailles 12 9 11 6 - 38
St. John’s 4 5 10 8 - 27