Girls basketball: St. Bede, Putnam County to meet for Tri-County title

HENRY – The seeds held up at the Tri-County Conference Tournament, setting up a title game between No. 1 St. Bede and No. 2 Putnam County at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Henry-Senachwine.

The Bruins, who are in their first season back in the Tri-County, advanced to the final with a 60-48 win over No. 4 Marquette on Monday, while Putnam County defeated No. 3 Midland 42-35.

St. Bede beat Putnam County 51-44 on Dec. 4.

St. Bede 60, Marquette 48

The Bruins came out strong shooting the ball and rebounding as they cruised past Marquette for the second time in a week.

Just as they did a week ago in a 55-47 win over the Crusaders, the Bruins dominated from the start on the boards (46-28) as Ali Bosnich, who collected 16 rebounds for the game, got a putback to put St. Bede ahead 4-0.

Lilly Craig got Marquette on the scoreboard with a drive and finish, but a pass from Quinn McClain to Ashlyn Ehm pushed the lead back to four at 6-2.

The Bruins extended the lead to 10-2 as Ehm collected a basket and the foul. The Crusaders stayed tough though as Avery Durdan hit a jumper from the foul line to cut the deficit to 10-7.

More offensive boards from the Bruins helped lead to back-to-back 3-pointers from Ella Hermes that gave St. Bede a 16-12 lead after the first eight minutes.

“This is obviously a rivalry game and a physical one,” St. Bede coach Stephanie Mickley said. “Our rebounding was strong again, and Ella (Hermes) was hot, especially in the first half.”

Lili McClain started the second quarter strong for the Bruins with a 3-pointer, but Marquette freshman guard Kaitlyn Davis had back-to-back drives and a scoop shot to cut the St. Bede lead to 26-16.

Moments later, Hermes missed a shot, but followed up her own miss and drained a 3-pointer, and then after another Bosnich rebound, she moved the ball ahead quickly to Ehm, who hit a layup for a 31-16 halftime lead.

“The rebounds killed us again tonight,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “But it has all year, so we just have to find a way to negate that. Whether it’s boxing out or what not, we just have to do a better job somehow.”

To start the second half, Hermes stayed hot as she drained a shot behind the arc, but Davis remained hot as well for the Crusaders as she responded with a long ball of her own as the Bruins lead was 34-19.

Davis followed by showing she can put the ball on the floor as well as shoot as her drive to the bucket resulted in a bunny shot.

Craig nailed a 3-pointer from the corner, but more offensive boards from Bosnich and Ehm as well as a strong move to the basket from Bosnich led to a 43-28 St. Bede advantage heading into the final quarter.

Davis again had a drive and scoop shot to cut it to 43-30, but the Bruins responded with an offensive rebound from Ehm and then a pass from Ali Bosnich to a cutting Lily Bosnich for a layup.

The lead was extended to 53-39 after an Ali Bosnich jumper from the free-throw line, but after the subs entered the game for both sides, Marquette quickly cut the deficit to 55-46, prompting the starters to return for the Bruins where they finished the game.

St. Bede was led by Hernmes with 17 points, Ehm with 15 and Ali Bosnich with 14. Both Ehm and Bosnich had another double-double with 16 boards each.

Putnam County 42, Midland 35

In the tournament’s final game of the day, the Panthers had the inside-outside game going throughout as they came away with a 42-35 victory over a feisty Timberwolves squad.

Midland came out strong with Sophie Milloy hitting a 3-pointer to start the game and then Anna McGlasson getting a putback for the early 5-0 lead.

Midland’s defense was solid and made Putnam County work for everything it got early in the contest. Maggie Richetta got a bucket and the foul to cut the deficit to 5-4 for the Panthers.

After Milloy hit another 3-pointer to give the Timberwolves a 12-8 lead, the Panthers began to put a run together.

Ava Hatton hit a pair of free throws and then stepped behind the arc to give Putnam County a 13-12 lead after eight minutes.

“We knew coming in that Midland goes as Milloy goes,” Putnam County coach Jared Sale said. “She got them rolling early, but I thought our inside-out game started to work well and got us a bit of a run.”

Hatton found Richetta for a bucket to cap off a 7-0 Panthers’ run before an offensive rebound and free throws from McGlasson briefly ended the Midland drought as it trailed 15-14.

The Panthers finished the half strong as Richetta powered her way into the lane and then Eme Bouxsein got a steal and layup before Esmerelda Avila kicked the ball out to Gabby Doyle for a 3-pointer and a 24-14 halftime lead after a 9-0 run to end the half.

Doyle hit the 3-pointer to start the second half for the Panthers and extended the lead to 27-14 before Maddie Pyles and Milloy hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Putnam County lead to 27-20.

But the Panthers responded once again, this time with a steal and layup from Bouxsein followed by a Maggie Spratt bucket and the foul as Putnam County led 34-26 heading into the fourth.

Both teams traded baskets to start the fourth before a fast-break layup from Valeria Villagomez and a 12-foot jumper from Spratt pushed the Panthers’ lead to 40-28.

Midland had one more run as McGlasson made a three-point play and then back-to-back buckets from Milloy cut the Panthers’ lead to 40-35 before Putnam County’s Bouxsein hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe to close out the game.

“We knew they’d have another run,” Sale said. “Milloy is tough, and when she gets going everyone else joins her. Now, we got St. Bede, who is playing well with the bigs down low and hitting some outside shots as well, so it should be fun.”

Putnam County was led by Richetta with 13 points, while Hatton added eight points and 11 rebounds. Milloy led all scorers with 19 points.