By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Anyone who follows Kansas high school basketball closely knows that St. James Academy was far from a typical No. 8 state seed.
And it didn't take long for the Thunder to emphatically prove that point in Wednesday's Class 5A state girls tournament opener at White Auditorium, with St. James riding a 20-0 run in the first half to a 65-42 victory over top seed Seaman.
Matt Tinsley talks to his Vikings during Wednesday's 65-42 first-round loss to St. James Academy in the Class 5A state tournament. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
Freshman Maddie Gragg led Seaman with 10 points in Wednesday's 65-42 Class 5A state tournament loss to St. James Academy. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
"We didn't have our best game and that's too bad, but that's not going to change what I feel about my girls in that locker room,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. "That's not going to change our season. We still had a great run.
"It hurts and the girls are hurt, which means they invested a lot into it, and it should hurt if you put a lot of time and effort and sacrifice into it. We're going to learn from it and we don't want to feel like this again. We want to get back here next year.''
Seaman, which finished its season 21-2, was within 10-8 with 5:05 left in the first quarter after a basket from freshman Maddie Gragg, but the Vikings would go more than eight minutes before scoring their next points, with the Thunder using their mammoth run to take a commanding 25-8 advantage at the end of the opening quarter and a 30-8 lead in the early stages of the second.
"It went to 30-8 quick,'' Tinsley said. "They just seemed to have anothe gear that we didn't have.''
Seaman outscored the Thunder by an 11-4 margin to end the half but St. James still led 34-19 at the break after shooting 73.3 percent in the first quarter and 51.7 percent for the half while limiting the Vikings to 25.9-percent shooting in the half.
The Vikings got no closer than 15 in the second half and St. James, which competes in the powerhouse Eastern Kansas League, closed the third quarter with a 9-1 run to take a 55-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
St. James boosted its lead to a game-high 25 points early in the fourth while Seaman got no closer than 19 down the stretch.
"We play in a great league, the EKL is a really, really strong league and we know that going through the battles in our league, but also our out of league play, we go through some tough tests,'' St. James coach Justin Snell said. "So I try to tell my girls that, 'We may not go undefeated in all those games but those gamess are preparing us for this time.' ''
The Thunder finished the game at 57.1 percent from the field while Seaman finished at 28.6 percent. St. James also finished with a 34-26 rebounding edge.
St. James senior Riley Bruggeman scored a game-high 27 points while 5-foot-11 sophomore Reese Messer added 17 points and senior Lauren Steinlage 10.
Gragg led Seaman with 10 points while sophomore Jaida Stallbaumer added nine points and junior Taylin Stallbaumer and sophomore Anna Becker eight points apiece. Becker also contributed seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
With Wednesday's win St. James advanced to a 2 p.m. semifinal on Friday to face EKL rival St. Thomas Aquinas, which advanced twith a 66-22 first-round win over Highland Park.
"This year we've played them twice and we haven't had a close game yet,'' Snell said. "They kicked our butts both times but hopefully the third time's the charm.''
ST. JAMES ACADEMY GIRLS 65, SEAMAN GIRLS 42
St. James 25 9 21 10 -- 65
Seaman 8 11 13 10 -- 42
St. James Academy (18-5 ) -- Kerwin 2-4 0-0 5, Steinlage 5-6 0-4 10, Bruggeman 10-15 6-8 27, Messer 8-16 0-0 17, Becker 3-6 0-0 6, Halnny 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 0-2 0-0 0, Menghini 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-49 6-12 65.
Seaman (21-2) -- J. Stallbaumer 3-7 1-2 9, T. Stallbaumer 2-11 2-2 8, Becker 3-11 2-2 8, Gragg 3-12 2-4 10, Gormley 2-3 1-2 5, Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Schumann 1-4 0-0 2, McLaughlin 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, E. Stallbaumer 0-0 0-0 0, Wilhelm 0-1 0-0 0, Moulden 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-49 8-12 42.
3-point shot -- St. James Academy 3-12 (Bruggeman 1-4, Messer 1-4, Kerwin 1-1, Becker 0-2, Robinson 0-1), Seaman 6-21 (J. Stallbaumer 2-2, Gragg 2-5, T. Stallbaumer 2-9, Becker 0-3, Gormley 0-1, Schumann 0-1). Total fouls -- St. James Academy 10, Seaman 13. Fouled out -- none. Technical foul -- Seaman bench.
