Douthit, Oakley power Wildcats to victories over Lexington
The St. Paul Wildcat Basketball Teams hit the road Thursday night for a doubleheader with the Lexington Minutemen/Minutemaids as the postseason looms for both teams.
In the Girl's game St. Paul got off to a quick start scoring the games first 4 points to take an early 4-0 lead before Lexington got things going on their end. At the end of the first, St. Paul led 10-9. Rebounding woes haunted the Wildcats in the 2nd quarter as St. Paul struggled on defensive rebounds and the Minutemaids capitalized taking a 3 point lead at Halftime 22-19. Both teams matched each other blow for blow in the 3rd with Lexington maintaining their lead at the end of 3 with a 32-31 lead.
The Cats roared to life in the 4th behind Katie Oakley and Zaya Lewis getting some big buckets for St. Paul. The Wildcats after trailing the majority of the 2nd half snagged a 42-40 lead with under 5 seconds to go. After a timeout Lexington chucked a pass down the length of the court just missing a reaching Oakley into the hands of Lexington who scored an easy layup with under 2 seconds left to force overtime.
The overtime period saw the 2 teams exchange early buckets in the 4 minute period before St. Paul pulled away behind a couple of Oakley baskets with the nail in the coffin coming from Zaya Lewis as she read a Lexington pass, intercepted it, and scored a layup to put the Wildcats up 6 with under a minute to go in OT. Lexington scored a 3 pointer at the horn but it didnt matter as the Cat's cushion was enough to escape with the 53-50 OT win. The win gives St. Paul their 7th win matching their season high from last year.
Katie Oakley takes home Runza MVP with 15 2nd half points on her way to scoring 19 total. Zaya Lewis earns the Dugout Grill Dang Good Play of the Game with her nail in the coffin layup to secure the victory.
The Wildcat Girls are back in action on Monday in the C2-9 Sub-District Tournament at Sandy Creek vs Superior. Tipoff is for 6:45 on Country 96.
The Boy's game didn't lack fireworks either fresh off their dominating victory over Ravenna, St. Paul took off with an early 18-9 lead thanks to Beau Paro scoring 8 of the team's first 10 points. Lexington locked things down defensively in the 2nd as both teams combined for 14 points in the frame splitting the difference at 7 to give St. Paul a 25-16 lead at the break. The 3rd quarter belonged to Lexington as they cut the gap to 2 going into the 4th quarter with 15-8 3rd. The Wildcats didn't let the momentum swing haunt them as Jackson Wegner sparked the Wildcat offense hitting a 3 that proved to be the difference maker as Conner Douthit help shut the door on Lex by nailing clutch free throws and getting key rebounds down the stretch as St. Paul pulls away for a scrappy 48-41 win. The win marks number 97 for Coach Reilly while it improves St. Paul to within 1 game of .500 at 10-11. The first time that the Wildcats have hit double digit wins in 3 years.
Conner Douthit takes Runza MVP Honors with his performance while Jackson Wegner doubling up as a swiss army knife in the Fourth Quarter shooting, rebounding, stealing, and assisting his way to the Dugout Grill Dang Good Play of the Game.
The victory over Lexington is the final game that will count towards seeding for Sub-Districts for the Boys. They will close out the regular season on 2/20 vs GICC.