South Central edges St. Paul for first win

NORWALK — The South Central girls basketball team didn't score in the second quarter. The Trojans also didn't make a free throw over the 32 minutes of Thursday's Firelands Conference game at St. Paul. But South Central also never trailed over the final 14-plus minutes of a 28-23 win over the Flyers inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium in Norwalk. Prior to Thursday, South Central had been by an average of 45.3 points per game. "I think the girls were pretty surprised to come over to the bench after the first quarter with the lead," South Central head coach Tod Fox said. "We've been trailing pretty bad all year, but they haven't held their heads down long and they keep working." South Central (1-4, 1-1) led 8-4 after one quarter, as Ember Phillips scored a basket and was fouled. She missed the free throw, but got her own rebound for two more points at the 4:24 mark to help give the Trojans the lead. But St. Paul (0-4, 0-2) answered in the second quarter with a pair of baskets. Ella Kalizewski broke a 5:34 scoreless drought by both teams with a basket with 4:47 left in the first half. Annie Friend then made a 3-pointer with 1:06 left in the half, which gave the Flyers a 9-8 lead at the break. But just over 90 seconds into the third quarter, Karli Smith made a 3 for the Trojans for an 11-9 lead, and they never trailed again. Emily Lamoreaux followed with a basket inside to make it 13-9 at the 5:44 mark, then Kalizewski finally broke a St. Paul drought with a basket to cut the margin to 13-11. But Smith scored consecutively, including a huge 3 that gave S.C. the 18-11 lead with 2:52 left in the third. Friend quickly answered with her second 3 with 2:38 left in the third, but Lamoreaux scored on a rebound putback at the quarter buzzer to put the Trojans up 20-14. Jenny Schwan opened the scoring in the fourth quarter for St. Paul, but again the Trojans answered. Lamoreaux scored consecutively, the last with 5:11 left, to give South Central a commanding 26-16 advantage. Georgia Crabbs and Kalizewski both scored inside to get those points back, but when Kaili Ingram scored with 2:33 left, the Trojans were still up 28-20. Crabbs then scored with 22.6 seconds left, and Friend split two foul shots with just 9.9 seconds remaining for the final margin. Both teams combined for 39 turnovers, with St. Paul committing 21 of them. "That's been our problem all year," St. Paul head coach Steve Frazee said. "Since Day 1, I've told them we have to value the basketball. We get in stretches where we don't score because we're throwing the ball away and don't get shots off. "That happened again tonight," he added. "They hit a couple shots, then we turn it over by stepping on the line or throwing it through people's hands … it's just not what we work on every day. I thought defensively we were better than we have been, but offensively we just could not get anything consistently rolling." Lamoreaux finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Smith had eight points. "The girls have been putting in a lot of work in practice to get better, and finally some of that from practice translated out onto the court," Fox said. "Kaili made a couple big baskets, Emily stepped up tonight, and those were big three's by Karli coming out. "I told her to be ready to shoot. It was great having Ember come back. She's someone who can handle the ball and put our girls in positions they need to be a bit more. Just a good team win." For St. Paul, Kalizewski had six points and six rebounds, while Friend scored seven points. Despite the defeat, Frazee was encouraged to see his team in tighter game situations. "There's no question it helps to have the opportunity for the girls to know where they need to foul or what decisions to make in a tight situation," he said. "We haven't had that situation at all, so to have that tonight … they have to learn to win. "They haven't consistently won in a few years, so they need to learn to compete, and then learn to win. To a certain extent, we did some things tonight we needed to do, but obviously there is a lot of work to be done yet." St. Paul is at New London on Saturday. South Central is at Western Reserve. "Maybe we can build a little bit of momentum here," Fox said. "We've watched a lot of film … they are putting in the work. Last night after practice, five girls stayed to shoot for an hour. "They are working and want to get better, so it was nice for them to get that reward tonight." SOUTH CENTRAL (1-4, 1-1) Ember Phillips 3-0—6; Karli Smith 3-0—8; Emily Lamoreaux 5-0—10; Kaili Ingram 2-0—4. TOTALS 13-0—28. ST. PAUL (0-4, 0-2) Georgia Crabbs 2-0—4; Peyton Barman 1-0—2; Annie Friend 2-1—7; Jenny Schwan 1-0—2; Aubrie Bogard 0-2—2; Ella Kalizewski 3-0—6. TOTALS 9-3—23. S. Central 8 0 12 8 — 28 St. Paul 4 5 5 9 — 23 3-point FGs: (SC) Smith; (SP) Friend 2