The memorable second-half run for the St. James Lady Tiger basketball season concluded in Missouri Class 4 sectional competition Monday, March 9, as St. James fell to St. Francis Borgia 41-28 at Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton.

The Borgia Lady Knights were then eliminated by Doniphan 55-45 in quarterfinal play Friday, March 13. Doniphan (28-2) moves on to face Benton (22-7) in Class 4 State Tournament semifinal action at 10 a.m. March 18 at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

St. James, the undefeated Four Rivers Conference and District 3 Tournament champion, ends with a 17-12 record - including a 9-1 run to close the season.

“I’m proud of my kids and how they finished their season,” said Lady Tiger head coach Terry Wells, whose team won a district title for the fifth consecutive season. “They have a lot to be proud of.”

Sectional, March 9 - St. Francis Borgia 41, STJ 28: Once again St. James clamped on a stingy defense. But the Lady Tigers simply could not generate enough offense to get past the Lady Knights.
Hitting a trio of three-pointers, St. James jumped out to the early lead, taking a 15-11 edge into the second period. However, STJ would not score 15 points the rest of the game, allowing Borgia to come back.

A pair of three-pointers was the extent of the Lady Tiger scoring the rest of the first half, as Borgia took a 22-21 advantage into intermission.

STJ would not score a field goal in the second half.

Borgia also struggled mightily for points, but outscored St. James 8-3 in the third period to up its lead to 30-24 going into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Knights added 11 more points the rest of the way to pull away.

“We jumped out early and took a nice lead in the first quarter,” Wells said. “I thought Borgia stole some momentum when they hit a bank three-point buzzer-beater at the first quarter buzzer. After halftime we just couldn’t generate any offense. Borgia was very physical with us and we struggled getting good looks. When we did get a good look, they simply wouldn’t fall.
“Our defense kept us in the game but our offense just ran out of steam. I tried about every trick in my book to steal us a basket and get going, but it never came.”

Junior guard Payge Kemnitzer led St. James with 13 points while junior guard Adalee Richardson added 10.

Junior Taylor Scheer paced Borgia with 17 points.

The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):

St. James (17-12): Kemnitzer 4-2-13, Richardson 2-5-10, Campbell 1-2-5, Totals 7-9-28.

Borgia (18-10): Taylor Scheer 6-2-17, Carroll 1-0-3, Tatum Scheer 0-2-2, Nowak 3-0-6, Kessler 3-5-11, Esqueda 1-0-2, Totals 14-9-41.

The score by periods:

St. James 15   6  3   4-28

Borgia      11 11 8 11-41