St. Marys routs Spencerville

ST. MARYS - For fans at Murotech Court, it only appeared that St. Marys could not miss a shot on Tuesday.

The Roughriders missed a few, but not many, shooting nearly 55% percent from the field and combined the shooting and defense to come away with a 52-24 win over Spencerville in non-conference girls basketball action.

St. Marys (6-4) mixed up the long distance and inside shots well. The Roughriders shot an even 50% (5-of-10) from beyond the arc and were able to get some second-chance shots in the paint.

"I thought the girls were patient offensively," said St. Marys coach Jon Burke. "They got the ball inside and worked it out (to the perimeter). Had some rhythm 3s. When you shoot that well, you'll beat good teams, and Spencerville is a good team"

The Bearcats (7-5) jumped out early to a 5-2 lead on a trey by Emma Leis and two free throws by Kelsey Shaffer. The Roughriders responded quickly with a Carly Caywood bunny, followed by a Lauren Cisco trey to give them the lead to stay. Noelle Ruane followed with a 3 with Caywood adding another bucket to make the score 12-5. Spencerville cut it to 13-9, but Kendall Dieringer's trey and another Caywood layup made the score 17-9 after one quarter.

Spencerville got as close as 19-13 with 3:34 remaining in the first half. But Elena Menker's 3-pointer 15 seconds later sparked a 19-0 run by the Roughriders spanning the second and third quarters. Nearly 8 minutes of playing time went off the clock before the Bearcats snapped the run with a Leis bucket with 3:48 remaining in the third quarter.

"I thought our defense played really well," said Burke, whose squad held the Bearcats to 21% shooting and 13 turnovers. "Kendall did a great job on Emma Leis. (Leis) is a great player. We did a nice job helping on screens and making sure she didn't take rhythm 3s because she can light it up and go for 30 any night."

The Bearcats used a small 8-2 run to get into the 20s at the end of the third quarter, but St. Marys held the Bearcats to just three points in the final quarter to complete the win.

Dieringer paced St. Marys with 14 points. Caywood and Cisco each added 12.

Leis and Nelaya Burden each scored seven to lead Spencerville.

St. Marys returns to Western Buckeye League play on Thursday as Van Wert comes to Murotech Court.