St. Bede claims own tournament title for first time since 2010

PERU – For the first time since 2010 St. Bede Bruins claimed the title of the 2024 Lady Bruins Christmas Classic as they used their size and defense to turn away Fieldcrest for the 44-36 victory during Saturday’s championship match in Peru at the Academy.

Right from the start the Bruins showed their size was going to be a factor as Ava Balestri powered her way into the lane for the first points of the night.

Early on both teams were struggling offensively. St. Bede’s Parker McClain drove to the bucket and out the Bruins ahead 4-2 about halfway through the first quarter.

The defense for the Bruins was all over the Knights shooters a well and Lili McClain got the fast break layup off the turnover along with a Balestri turnaround jumper for a 8-2 advantage.

“We knew coming in that Fieldcrest could shoot,” St. Bede coach Tom Ptak said. “We knew we had to use our size at both ends of the court and I thought we did that well.”

Macy Gocahnour drove the baseline and hit the floater for the Knights, but the team struggled to hit the long ball all night.

St. Bede continued to get the ball in the post as Ashlyn Ehm hit the turnaroud shot as the Bruins led 12-6 after the first quarter of action.

Gocahnour started the second off with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 12-9, but St. Bede came right back and Bray got one of her 11 rebounds on the night for the putback and a 14-9 lead.

“Yeah we struggled with the shots tonight,” Fieldcrest coach Nate Ehrhardt said. “When we are on it looks good, but give St. Bede credit they used their size well and that’s been our Achilles’ heel all year. We don’t have much size.”

Moments later Lili McClain got the rebound and went coast to coast for the bucket but the Knights would got on a run as the half was running down.

Gocahnour missed a 3-pointer, but Pru Mangan got the rebound and the putback before hitting the floater in the lane to tie the game at 16.

With Ehm going to the bench with three fouls the Bruins Got layups from Lili McClain and Nelle Potthoff as St. Bede took a 20-16 lead into the intermission.

Fieldcrest started out the third quarter strong with Gocahnour grabbing the rebound and going coast to coast to tie the game at 20.

Bray would respond for the Bruins though with another rebound and put back to put St. Bede back ahead by two.

“Bray is a great rebounder,” Ptak said. “She struggled a little with her shot, but she’s a ton on the boards for us and just had a solid night all around really.”

Fieldcrest tied the game on a Gocahnour shot and then hit a pair of free throws to give the Knights a 24-22 lead for their first lead of the game with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter.

Parker McCalin hit a shot just inside the arc, but the Knights finished the quarter leading the Bruins 28-25.

Lili McClain started the final eight minutes off driving to the basket and the foul to tie the game at 28 and then Ehm hit one of two from the line to retake the lead for St. Bede at 29-28.

The Bruins made some nice passes in the final period that led extending the lead with Lili McClain making a great pass to Ehm in the paint for the layup.

Ehm then hit a tough shot in the paint to make it 33-30 Bruins. Moments later Ehm made a nice save as the ball was headed for a turnover and then found Balestri for the layup.

Parker McClain made a nice dish in the post to Ehm for another bucket and Bray converted the turnaround jumper to push the lead to 40-31.

Gocahnour hit a shot and free throw but it wasn’t enough as the Bruins came away with the 44-36 championship victory.

“I thought we did a better job of keeping St. Bede off the boards in the second half than we did in the first,” Ehrhardt said. “Terilynn Timmerman had an off night, but the tenacity she shows on the defensive end more than makes up for that. We competed well in this tournament and proved a few people wrong.”

For the game Lili McClain led with 12 points while Ehm added 11. Bray led with 11 rebounds while Balestri and Ehm each had seven. Gocahnour led all scorers with 21 for Fieldcrest and Mangan added 10.