Both St. Joseph teams advance to district semifinals

By Ben Keller
UCA sportswriting

St. Joseph's Lady Bulldogs rallied to beat the Conway Christian Lady Eagles, 55-44 Wednesday in the 2A-5 North District Tournament at Magnet Cove.

The Lady Bulldogs move on to Friday's semifinals, but Wednesday's win clinched a berth to next week's Class 2A East Regional at Carlisle.

“I thought we played really well, and I was real proud of our effort,” coach Chris Kordsmeier said. “It was a hard-fought game by both teams and it was a good rival game against Conway Christian.”

Kordsmeier said both teams laid everything on the line since it was an elimination game and there was a lot at stake.

The Lady Bulldogs had a narrow lead going into halftime, 27-24. They came back after being outscored during the first period, 15-11. St. Joseph stayed ahead during the third period, ending the quarter with a 41-36 lead, and sealed their victory in the fourth.

Kordsmeier said he thought his team played well against the Lady Eagles, and he hopes that will carry over into their game Friday against the England Lady Lions, who completed the conference schedule unbeaten.

“[The Lady Lions] were our regular season conference winner, so it is going to be a tough game,” he said.

Senior Amy Schichtl led St. Joseph in scoring with 17 points. She added six rebounds. Junior Heather Moix recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. She also had four assists.

The Lady Bulldogs hit 15 of 20 from the foul line. Kordsmeier said he was pleased with the Lady Bulldogs' shooting and how well they balanced that with strong defense.

“We had good balance court-wise,” he said. “We played well on both offense and defense. We had some good stops defensively and then we shot really well. We shot about 50 percent.”

St. Joseph improved to 15-13.

The Bulldogs (20-7) will also play in Friday's district semifinals against England. Brent Bruich's team is seeded first after tying for the conference championship with Mountain Pine. They, too, will play in the regional next week.