St. Pius wins battle of Festus teams
FESTUS, Mo. • The St. Pius X girls basketball team wasted little time asserting itself while hosting conference and cross-town rival Crystal City on Monday.
Fueled by a relentless 1-3-1 three-quarters trapping defense, St. Pius never trailed en route to a 63-47 win. The Lancers forced 32 turnovers, including 29 in the first three quarters.
“We’ve been beating up on people so much this year that we haven’t been tested,” St. Pius coach Aaron Portell said. “With the last two games and with Bishop DuBourg coming up Wednesday, we’re finally getting some good tests. It’s nice to see against a good Crystal City team how well we did on defense.”
St. Pius (19-1 overall, 7-0 in conference) jumped out to a 21-12 lead after the first quarter and pushed the lead to 34-21 at halftime. Gabrielle Moser scored 19 of her game-high 21 points in the first two quarters.
“We take pride in our steals and trapping,” Moser said. “It’s definitely gotten us to where we are now.”
With Crystal City (13-6, 6-1) on the ropes, St. Pius ramped up its attack in the third. The Lancers created five consecutive Hornets turnovers to start the quarter and 10 times total while outscoring them 23-12.
Tori Aubuchon nailed two 3-pointers and Melissa Collins scored nine of her 11 points in the third as St. Pius stretched the lead to 57-33. Aubuchon finished with 13 points.
Crystal City turned the tables on the Lancers in the fourth, forcing 11 turnovers as they scored the quarter’s first 12 points to cut it to 57-45.
“We have one senior out there and I was glad to see the girls not give up,” Crystal City coach Ken Jones said. “We made some adjustments and we gave them a much better game in the second half.”
An Aubuchon 3-pointer ended the run and the threat, making it 60-45 St. Pius.
Audrey Cooper led Crystal City with 16 points. Daniece Riney added 14 off the bench.
The game was a rematch from the Herculaneum tournament when St. Pius beat Crystal City 60-34 on Dec. 9.
“We knew it would be different this time,” Moser said. “We knew they were going to pass it around and be ready for our defense.”
The win clinched the Jefferson County Conference championship for St. Pius, the No. 5 team in the Post-Dispatch small schools poll.
“(Coach) Portell told us that this is the first time we’ve won the whole conference, not just the small school division, so we’re pretty excited,” Aubuchon said.
