Some rebuilding year.

After losing six seniors - including four starters - from last season’s district champion, the St. James High School girls’ basketball squad was considered by many to be a team in a rebuilding mold for 2025-26.
The team didn’t feel that way, however. And they proved themselves right.

Despite battling experience and size issues throughout the season, these Lady Tigers took their place in the rich history of the program as champions.

A three-game Four Rivers Conference sweep last week gave the Lady Tigers the undefeated conference championship. After beating both Hermann 38-26 Monday, Feb. 16 and Union 43-22 Wednesday, Feb. 18 on the road to clinch at least a tie for the FRC title, St. James wrapped up the undefeated championship by blowing past St. Clair 62-30 at home Thursday, Feb. 19.

Thursday’s victory was the sixth straight for St. James and improved its record to 14-10 overall and a perfect 7-0 in the conference. Also in the league standings, Hermann is 6-1, Sullivan 3-2, St. Clair 3-4, Union 3-4, Pacific 2-4, Owensville 2-4 and New Haven 0-7.

The Lady Tigers were slated to end their regular season schedule by hosting Camdenton Thursday, Feb. 26 at St. James High, with the junior varsity game to begin at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity contest to follow.

Now the Lady Tigers will be gunning for their fifth consecutive district championship, and sixth in the last seven years.

St. James has been seeded No. 2 for the Missouri Class 4 District 3 Tournament March 2-6 at Cuba High School. Other schools in District 3 include Cuba, Owensville, Salem, St. Clair and Sullivan.
Host Cuba (19-5 entering this week) is the top-seed for District 3 while St. James is seeded No. 2, Sullivan (14-9) No. 3, St. Clair (11-8) No. 4, Owensville (5-18) No. 5 and Salem (9-15) No. 6.
In first-round games March 2, St. Clair meets Owensville at 5:30 p.m. while Sullivan takes on Salem at 7 p.m. Cuba and St. James received first-round byes.

In semifinal games March 4, Cuba meets the St. Clair/Owensville winner at 5:30 p.m. while St. James takes on the Sullivan/Salem winner at 7 p.m.

The district championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 6.
The District 3 champion will meet the District 4 champion at 6 p.m. March 10 in Class 4 Sectional action at Rockwood Summit High School. Schools in District 4 include Affton, Bayless, Lutheran South, Notre Dame St. Louis and St. Francis Borgia.

The District 3/District 4 Sectional survivor will move on to quarterfinal action against either the District 1 champion or District 2 champion at 1 p.m. March 14 at Union High School.
The Class 4 Girls’ Final Four is slated for March 20-21 at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

Last week’s events gave the Lady Tigers their 19th conference championship in program history, the last coming in the 2023-24 campaign.

“I’m just proud of my kids for sticking with it,” said St. James head coach Terry Wells. “We had some difficult times this season, dealt with a lot of injuries and inconsistency in our lineups. These kids just believed, though, and they are playing their best basketball at the right time of the year. They are an absolute animal on defense right now. Kids are stepping up, playing hard and fighting for each other. I think every time my kids take the floor we are just simply going to try harder than the other team. They believe in themselves right now, they believe in me and I believe in them. And we aren’t quite done yet.”

“We have really worked hard,” said Lady Tiger senior Avery Campbell. “A lot of people dismissed us. We’re real proud we could do it. I would say after the Christmas break we started coming together. This is a super huge accomplishment; it’s a tough conference. Now I think we can win districts.”

“A lot of people gave up on us after losing six really good seniors (last season),” said STJ senior Sophie Deluca. “Compared to last year, we don’t have the shooters around the perimeter. We’ve got to work as a team to win. And defense is what fuels our offense. Coach Wells has had to adjust our defense during the season. It took us awhile.”

Both Campbell and Deluca have been a part of three Lady Tiger district championships and one state quarterfinal berth, and senior Jaci Foust was a part of two district titles as well. But they said the league crown as seniors is special.

“We realized how important it is to be conference champion,” Deluca said. “We knew Hermann would be real tough, so we focused a lot on Hermann. But we really wanted to beat St. Clair. We wanted to win the conference, not tie for it.”

Feb. 19 at St. James - STJ 62, St. Clair 30: St. James bolted to the early lead on the strength of the long-range shooting of junior guard Payge Kemnitzer.

Kemnitzer netted six 3-point field goals in the first half, as St. James never trailed.
It was a one-point game late in the first quarter until the Lady Tigers went on a 6-2 run to take a 15-10 lead into the second period.

Kemnitzer reeled off the first 10 points of th second quarter, including a pair of threes. And her put-back at the 4:26 mark after a steal by freshman Kaelyn Smith gave STJ a 25-10 advantage. Kemnitzer ended the first-half scoring with a pair of free throws, giving the Lady Tigers a 32-17 halftime cushion.
St. James would keep a comfortable lead the rest of the way. And a field goal by junior guard Adalee Richardson gave the host team a 46-22 advantage entering the fourth period.
St. Clair trailed by as much as 34 points in the final quarter.
Kemnitzer erupted for 28 points while Richardson added 12 points and Deluca 10 for the Lady Tigers, who netted a total of nine treys. Deluca also paced the Lady Tigers in rebounds.
Junior Lila Hinson led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 points.
St. James easily won the junior varsity game 49-8.

The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):

Varsity

St. James (14-10, 7-0): Kemnitzer 10-2-28, Richardson 5-1-12, Campbell 2-0-5, Stubblefield 1-0-2, Stack 2-0-5, Deluca 4-2-10, Totals 24-5-62.

St. Clair (11-8, 3-4): Coello 3-1-8, Daniels 1-0-3, Hartsook 1-0-3, Hinson 2-6-10, Talleur 3-0-6, Totals 10-7-30.

The score by periods:

St. Clair   10   7   5   8-30

St. James 15 17 14 16-62

Junior Varsity

St. James: Swopes 4-0-9, Apollo 2-0-6, Stubblefield 6-0-14, McCurdy 1-1-3, Drennan 2-1-5, Marcee 1-1-3, McWhorter 0-2-2, Stack 3-1-7.

St. Clair: Guthrie 1-0-3, Moore 1-1-3, Racherbaumer 1-0-2.

Feb. 18 at Union - STJ 43, Union 22: St. James knocked down seven 3-pointers, including five by Kemnitzer.

After taking a 9-6 lead after the first period, Kemnitzer fired in three treys to help STJ outscore Union 14-4 in the second quarter to take a 23-10 halftime edge. After the two teams swapped points most of the third period, the St. James defense shut out the Union Lady Wildcats over the fourth quarter to ice things.

“Just a great defensive effort from our kids,” Wells said. “We struggled offensively at times, but defensively we were as good as we’ve been all year. Payge hit some huge baskets every time Union made a run, which was big for us with scoring at a premium.”

Kemnitzer finished with a game-high 19 points while Deluca netted 13.

St. James won the junior varsity game 45-13.

The individual scoring:

Varsity

St. James: Kemnitzer 7-0-19, Richardson 2-0-5, Campbell 1-0-3, Roark 1-1-3, Deluca 6-1-13, Totals 17-2-43.
Union (7-16, 2-4): Brown 2-4-8, Thwing 1-0-3, Koenigsfeld 2-0-5, Kliethermes 3-0-6, Totals 8-4-22.

The individual scoring:

St. James  9 14 11   9-43

Union       6    4 12  0-22

Junior Varsity

St. James: Apollo 2-0-5, Stubblefield 5-0-11, McCurdy 1-0-2, Drennan 1-0-2, McWhorter 2-4-8, Stack 6-1-17.

Union: McMillon 1-0-2, Ahner 1-1-3, Miller 2-2-6, Sullivan 0-2-2.

Feb. 16 at Hermann - STJ 38, Hermann 26: The Hermann Lady Bearcats came into the week leading the conference race, but St. James’ defensive effort slammed the door. Hermann was unable to score in double figures in any of the four quarters.

St. James’ offense struggled as well, but the Lady Tigers scored enough to get the win. STJ led 10-7 after the first quarter and went into halftime up 19-12. Hermann was limited to just six points in the third quarter and eight in the final period.

“It was a great defensive effort from my kids,” Wells said. “The offenses for both teams really struggled. Considering our size disadvantage we really competed on the boards well. We forced a ton of turnovers and made just enough offensive plays to win.”

Kemnitzer scored 16 points.

St. James won the junior varsity game 47-16.

The individual scoring:

Varsity

St. James: Kemnitzer 5-3-16, Richardson 2-2-6, Campbell 2-0-5, Smith 1-4-7, Deluca 1-2-4, Totals 11-11-38.

Hermann (15-11, 6-1): Landolt 2-1-5, Ash 2-0-5, V. Van Booven 1-0-3, Walkenbach 1-0-3, A. Van Booven 4-2-10, Totals 10-3-26.

The score by periods:

St. James 10  9  9 10-38

Hermann    7  5  6   8-26

Junior Varsity

St. James: Swopes 2-0-5, Apollo 0-2-2, Stubblefield 4-1-10, Drennan 4-2-10, McWhorter 1-3-5, Stack 6-2-15.
Hermann: Theissen 1-0-2, Engemann 1-0-3, Diebal 3-0-6, Yates 1-0-2, Groner 1-1-3.