ST. MARYS, W.Va. — St. Marys played a nearly perfect first half of basketball to build a 21-point lead at intermission and the Blue Devils fought off a late rally from Charleston Catholic, 54-40. The Blue Devils avenged a 47-41 loss to the Irish in Charleston on January 16.
“We had better spacing tonight. Down there, we bunched up too much and we couldn’t get downhill because we were too close to each other. And we did not defend,” said St. Marys head coach Fred King.
“We changed our defense up a little bit. And offensively, we were more patient. And we made good decisions.”
St. Marys jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the opening minutes and they led by double-digits at the end of the first quarter, 19-8. The Blue Devils extended that margin to 34-13 at halftime.
“The key to the good start was that we executed our offense by having patience. We kept the floor wide. We had spacing and we were able to get downhill. We made some good penetration and some good decisions with the back cuts. And we made some shots. They key was that we did things right the first five-to-six minutes of the game.”
Charleston Catholic trimmed the deficit to 14 points by the end of the third quarter. The Irish crept within eight points midway through the fourth quarter. However, the Blue Devils were able to hold on down the stretch. They scored the final six points of the game.
Addie Davis led St. Marys (13-7) with a game-best 22 points.
“She does what we need her to do. She is a nice sophomore and we are very pleased.”
Zoe Davis scored 11 points for the Blue Devils and Breanna Price added 10.
St. Marys has won nine of their last 13 games. Two games remain in their regular season. The Blue Devils have earned the top seed in their upcoming sectional tournament.
“Right now I like where we are at. We are not there yet but we are getting there.”
Claire Mullen and Annie Cimino led the Irish (10-8) with eight points apiece.