Lady Indians Edge St. Clair

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St. Clair nearly completed a big comeback against Pacific, but the Lady Indians held on for a Four Rivers Conference girls basketball victory.

The Lady Bulldogs (12-11, 1-4) erased a 18-point deficit in the third quarter and tied the game in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

Pacific (15-7, 2-2) put things back together in the final seconds to register a 51-47 win Monday at St. Clair High School.

“We were able to pressure the ball a lot in the game,” said Pacific Head Coach Josh Spuhl. “I’m happy that we were able to get our focus down the stretch and get the win.”

The Lady Indians held leads of 15-6 after one quarter, 31-20 at halftime and 44-33 after three quarters.

“We had a rough first half. We missed several shots that recently we have been hitting,” said St. Clair Head Coach Jena Carroll. “Our shooters started off real cold and we were never in the right spot to rebound our misses.”

St. Clair completed its 18-point comeback when Ashley Fuchs tied the game 47-47 on a basket with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Pacific took the lead 49-47 when Abby Spuhl found Kya Hill under the basket with four seconds left on the clock.

Ashley Hill of the Lady Indians then stole St. Clair’s inbound pass and was quickly fouled. She made both free throws to seal Pacific’s win.

“Abby made a great pass to Kya to give us the lead by two points with four seconds left,” Spuhl said. “Ashley then made a fantastic steal and made both free throws to seal the victory.”

Kya Hill paced Pacific in the game with 14 points, 18 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Lizzy Almo finished the game with 10 points. Ashley Hill added eight points.

Meagan Wakefield registered six points. Hunter Kelemen chipped in with five points. Abby Spuhl and Ellen Rogers both scored three points. Karlie King had two points.

Karissa Hoffman led St. Clair in the scoring column with 15 points.

Allison Hinson finished the game with 10 points. Brittany Sellers added nine points.

Fuchs chipped in with four points. Shannon Duncan scored three points. Sarah Baker, Kayla Klenke and Sam Deason each had two points.

“Karissa and Allison both played really aggressive offensively,” Carroll said.

“We were down by as much as 18 points and come back to tie it up and make it interesting,” Carroll added. “That says a lot for our team at this point in the season. I can appreciate our desire to fight back.”

After surrendering the lead, Spuhl was pleased that his team bounced back and got the win.

“I was very happy with our defense in the first half. We were up by 11 points at halftime and expanded it in the third quarter,” Spuhl said. “St. Clair didn’t quit. We let Hoffman catch the ball too low in the paint in the fourth quarter. She brought them back in it. St. Clair held us to one shot and done in the second half.”

Pacific continues FRC action Thursday at home against Union at 6 p.m.

St. Clair returns to action Monday at Owensville at 6 p.m.

Pacific received the top seed for the Class 4 District 3 Tournament to be played at Lutheran South High School starting Feb. 20.

Lutheran South is seeded second followed by Affton, St. Louis Notre Dame, Hillsboro, Festus and Windsor.

The Lady Indians received a first-round bye and will play either Notre Dame or Hillsboro in the semifinals Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m.