The St Mary Cardinal girls hosted the Colman-Egan Hawks in an early season battle of undefeated teams in Region 3B on Thursday, December 19th. In a game that saw two completely different halves for each team, the Hawks squeaked by the Cardinals 44-47.
The start of the first quarter went back and forth. Colman-Egan took a 7-5 lead with 5:30 to play in the quarter. St Mary went in front 11-10 about three minutes later. The Cardinals then went on an 11-0 run to finish the quarter to build a 22-10 lead. The offenses struggled a bit in the second quarter. The two teams combined for just nine total points, and St Mary held a 26-15 advantage at halftime.
The Cardinals opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run and built a game-high 18-point lead, 35-17, with 4:00 to play in the third quarter. That’s when the script flipped for each team. Colman-Egan started to heat up offensively and got within five points, 35-30, seconds before the end of the third quarter. Addison Libis stole a pass at the top of the key racing to a layup on the other end. She was fouled in the process. Libis made the free throw to extend the St Mary lead to 38-30 going into the fourth quarter.
St Mary scored the first two points of the fourth quarter giving them a 40-30 advantage with 7:15 to play in the game. Colman-Egan was able to chip away at the lead and tied the score 42-42 with 4:30 left. They continued their run and took a 46-42 lead with 1:45 remaining. The Cardinals cut the lead to 46-44. Colman-Egan made one-of-two free throw attempts with less than :20 to go to make the score 47-44. St Mary had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but a three-point attempt at the buzzer was no good.
The Cardinals shot 33% (18-54) from the field overall, 17% (3-18) on three-point attempts, and 5-10 from the free-throw line. Colman-Egan shot 39% (15-38) overall, 43% (9-21) from three-point area, and 57% (8-14) from the free-throw line.
Jenna Miller finished with 17 points, three rebounds, and four steals. Madala Hanson had nine points. Maddyn LeBrun added eight points, three rebounds, and three steals. Libis tallied seven points. Brianna Griffin had nine rebound, two assists, and two steals.
