Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley, Dells City Journal
With their lead having been cut to two points, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals went on a fourth quarter run led by Courtney Brown, who scored 15 of the team’s 18 fourth quarter-points, to defeat the Baltic Bulldogs 52-40 on Monday, January 27th.
Most of the first quarter was close and back-and-fourth with two ties and three lead changes. St Mary held a slim 10-9 lead with 1:30 to play in the quarter. They then went on an 8-0 run to end the first quarter leading 18-9. Baltic scored the first five points of the second quarter to pull within four points at 18-14 with 5:00 to go in the half. The Cardinals responded by holding the Bulldogs to just four points the rest of the quarter to increase their lead to 28-18 at halftime.
The St Mary lead grew to 13 points at 31-18 with 5:45 to go in the third quarter. Baltic cut the lead into single digits throughout the quarter as both defenses played tough in the third quarter. The Cardinals maintained a 34-26 lead heading into the final quarter. The Baltic offense got going early in the fourth quarter, and after a made three-point shot by Kylie Schneider with 5:00 to go in the game, the Bulldogs were within two points at 36-34. That’s when Brown took control. Brown made 13 of her 15 points of the quarter in the final 5:00 minutes of the game to spark the Cardinals fourth-quarter run for the win.
Three players finished in double figures for St Mary. Brown finished with a game-high 16 points. Ella Heinitz had 13 points. Ella Griffin finished with 10 points, and Karlie Klein had five points. Baltic was led by Sami Polzin with nine points, Schneider with eight points, and Cami Artz with six points.
St Mary (7-7) will host the Alcester-Hudson Cubs on Thursday, January 30th. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.