The St. James High School girls’ basketball team posted its first victory of the season Saturday, Dec. 6, defeating Orchard Farm 43-32 in the Marquette Tournament.

Also in the tournament, the Lady Tigers lost to Lafayette Wildwood 34-28 Friday, Dec. 5 and fell to Ursuline Academy 53-24 Wednesday, Dec. 3.

That left St. James 1-3 overall.

This week St. James was to play three games, at Steelville Monday, Dec. 8, at Cuba Tuesday, Dec. 9 and hosting New Haven in its Four Rivers Conference opener Friday, Dec. 12. Friday the junior varsity game is to begin at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity contest to follow.

Marquette Tournament

Dec. 6 - STJ 43, Orchard Farm 32: The Lady Tigers used their long-range shooting to hold off the Orchard Farm Lady Eagles.

The best offensive quarter of play came in the first, as Orchard Farm outscored St. James 17-15. Defense took over the rest of the way. Only eight total points were scored the rest of the half, with St. James getting five of them to tie the score 20-20 at intermission.

In the third quarter all five Lady Tiger field goals were three-pointers - three by junior guard Adalee Richardson and two by junior guard Payge Kemnitzer - allowing them to outscore the Lady Eagles 15-5 in the period and take a 35-25 advantage.

St. James would limit Orchard Farm to just seven 4th-quarter points to hold on.

Kemnitzer finished with 15 points on five treys while Richardson added 12 points on four three-pointers. In all the Lady Tigers netted 10 3-pointers.

Junior Alyssa Wilson paced the Lady Eagles with 17 points.

The individual scoring:

St. James (1-3): Kemnitzer 5-0-15, Richardson 4-0-12, Campbell 2-2-7, Smith 1-0-2, Roark 3-0-6, Costoplos 0-1-1, Totals 15-3-43.

Orchard Farm (1-4): Bruehl 1-0-2, Pfautsch 1-2-4, Wilson 7-2-17, Hohe 2-2-7, Strunk 1-0-2, Totals 12-6-32.

The score by periods:

Orch. Farm  17  3    5  7-32

St. James     15  5  15  8-43

Dec. 5 - Lafayette 34, STJ 28: After a defensive standoff for the first three quarters, the Lafayette Wildwood Lancers pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Neither team scored in double figures in any of the first three quarters. Lafayette held a 9-5 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Tigers trimmed their deficit to 14-13 entering halftime.

In the third quarter St. James limited Lafayette to just two field goals, while Kemnitzer got five points herself, as the Lady Tigers took a 21-18 edge into the fourth period.

However, the Lady Lancers finally had some offensive success the rest of the way, hitting four 3-pointers and scoring 16 points.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said St. James head coach Terry Wells. “They hit four 3s to start the fourth quarter and that was honestly the deciding factor. Our defense was on point all night except for that stretch. However, when you are struggling to score like we do, your defense just can’t have lapses.”

Kemnitzer scored a game-high 16 points to lead St. James.

No one scored in double figures for Lafayette.

The individual scoring:

St. James: Kemnitzer 7-1-16, Richardson 3-0-9, Smith 0-2-2, Costoplos 0-1-1, Totals 10-4-28.

Lafayette: Golfo 3-0-6, Kimberlin 1-2-5, Kivisikk 2-1-5, Kirtley 1-0-2, Hrdlicka 2-0-6, Cunningham 1-0-3, Callaham 2-0-4, Knight 1-0-3, Totals 13-3-34.

The score by periods:

Lafayette  9  5  4  16-34

St. James  5  8  8    7-28

Dec. 3 - Ursuline 53, STJ 24: With Kemnitzer firing in three 3-pointers, the Lady Tigers tallied 16 points in the first period. However, the Ursuline Bears put up 20 points in the period as well.

After that it was all Ursuline, as St. James was limited to just eight points over the final three quarters.

Ursuline had a 28-19 halftime lead and pulled away by outscoring STJ 14-3 over the third period.

It was a matchup of last season’s Class 4 Sectional game, which St. James won in a thriller at home.

“We played a really good first half,” Wells said. “However, their size and athleticism really wore us down. I’m proud of my kids though. If they give me that kind of effort all season we will be a different team in the second half.”

The individual scoring:

St. James: Kemnitzer 3-0-9, Richardson 2-0-5, Campbell 2-1-5, Smith 0-1-1, Roark 1-0-2, Costoplos 0-1-1, Foust 0-1-1, Totals 8-4-24.

Ursuline: Schueler 4-0-10, Vilela 2-0-6, Walsh 2-1-5, Kriegshauser 2-0-5, Tiburzi 2-0-6, Salviccio 2-2-6, Shane 4-1-9, King 3-0-6, Totals 21-4-53.

The score by periods:

St. James  16  3    3    2-24

Ursuline   20  8  14  11-53