St. Anthony Holds On for Win Over Neoga

In a game that wasn't decided until the final seconds, the St. Anthony Lady Bulldogs defeated the Neoga Lady Indians 45-41 Thursday in a contest at Neoga.  The game was heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.

Neither team shot the ball well early, accounting for a 7-6 lead after one quarter.  The teams started getting some shots to drop in the second quarter with St. Anthony outscoring 16-10 in the period to lead 22-17 at halftime.  

Neoga put the clamps on the Bulldogs in the third quarter, outscoring St. Anthony 10-3 to lead 27-25 heading into the final quarter.  St. Anthony saved their best quarter for the last one, pouring in 20 points to 14 for the Indians to post the four-point win.  

Both teams had seven-point leads later in the contest, and neither lead lasted long.  Both teams also shot the ball better from three-point range than from two-point territory and three-pointers played a big part in the contest as far as eliminating the leads of the other squad.

Foul shooting was a key, too, as St. Anthony made seven of eight foul shots in the fourth quarter while Neoga made all four of theirs in the period.

For the game, Neoga made 11 of 34 shots for 32% while St. Anthony made 14 of 50 for 28%. Neoga made four of 11 three-point tries while St. Anthony hit on five of 11 three-point tries.  Neoga made 15 of 21 foul shots while St. Anthony hit on 12 of 16.  Neoga turned the ball over 11 times to 12 times for St. Anthony.  The one area where the Bulldogs had a decided edge was rebounding as St. Anthony outboarded the smaller Neoga squad 31-20.

Kate Richards led St. Anthony in scoring with 14 points and added seven rebounds while Megan Nuxoll scored eight points but grabbed nine rebounds.  Makayla Walsh, back from a lengthy recovery from surgery, came off the bench to score 11 points.  Lauren Wendt had seven points and seven rebounds.  Also for St. Anthony: Hunter Niebrugge three points and Abby Brown two points.

Neoga was paced by sophomore E.C. Thies with 13 points, while Jillian Deters scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds.  Freshman Jaycie Roy was also in double figures with 10 points.  Olivia Ott didn't score but pulled down six rebounds.  Madison Butler scored four points and Kelli Erickson accounted for the other two points.

St. Anthony posted its fifth straight win and improved to 13-4 on the season while Neoga fell to 12-6 on the campaign.  The two teams will face each other again next Thursday at the Effingham Round Robin Tournament.

St. Anthony won the JV game 39-14.

At Neoga

ST. ANTHONY (45)

Wendt 2-3 -- 7, Nuxoll 4-0 -- 8, Brown 0-2 -- 2, Richards 4-4 -- 14, Walsh 3-2 -- 11, Niebrugge 1-1 -- 3. TOTALS 14 FG, 12 FT.

NEOGA (41)

Butler 0-4 -- 4, Ott 0-0 -- 0, Thies 4-3 -- 13, Deters 2-8 -- 12, Erickson 1-0 -- 2, Roy 4-0 -- 10. TOTALS 11 FG, 15 FT.

St. Anthony          6    16       3    20    --    45

Neoga                    7    10    10    14    --    41

3-point FG -- St. Anthony 5 (Walsh 3, Ricahrds 2), Neoga 4 (Thies 2, Roy 2).