Strong first half propels Lady Bruins

SPRING VALLEY -- The St. Bede Lady Bruins used a pivotal first half dominating performance to cruise to a 64-43 victory over their nearby neighbor, the LaSalle-Peru Lady Cavaliers Tuesday night, in non-conference girls basketball action. Trailing 7-6, early -- L-P's only, brief lead of the game, came at the 5:05 mark of the first period on a Lisa's Ghighi offensive putback -- the Lady Bruins scored the game's next 14 points to take control for good. "That's nice, wow," St. Bede coach Tom McGunnigal. "That's one thing we talked about, coming out of the lockerroom at the start, was coming out with intensity. At the end of the first quarter, I knew that we'd been on a run, but I didn't realize it was 14-0." McGunnigal was more impressed the Lady Bruins were able to sustain their fine play throughout. "The girls that rotated in, because of foul trouble, because of sickness, because of just flat-out being tired because they were working so hard, really did a nice job of just keeping that intensity level high, and it's a fun style of basketball that we like to play," he said. "We're ready to move on (soon) and see what we can do, make some noise in our conference tournament." St. Bede led 20-9 after one quarter. It was a period in which L-P made 3-4 shots from the floor, but was forced into 14 of the Lady Cav's 34 total turnovers on the night. The Lady Bruins closed out the first half on an 8-0 unanswered scoring streak to build a comfortable 39-17 lead at the break. L-P (2-13) was able to only tread water throughout the entire second half, watching their deficit vary from as many as 24 points (43-19) to as few as 15 tallies. When L-P's Lexi Pioli drilled her third of four treys in the game, she managed to pull her team within a 55-40 margin of the St. Bede, with 4:49 left in the game. "Second half, we attacked their press better. Our girls were challenged at halftime, and I think they played very well in the second half," said L-P coach Mark Haberkorn. "Our girls never quit. But, again, the difference in the game was St. Bede's press, especially early. Their girls, they turn turnovers into points very quickly." St. Bede (16-4) got 22 points from Katie Carls, who connected on 8-10 shots from the field, including one trey, to go along with 5-6 free throws. Rachel Safranski and Cassie Kelley added 13 and 10 tallies, respectively, for the winners. "Our pressure defense was fantastic. We definitely wanted to extend the game from baseline to baseline, and we did that," said McGunnigal. "We got a lot of turnovers. The girls played smart, heady, got their hands into the passing lanes. We continued to keep our pressure on them, played tough inside, kept a hand in the shooter's face. I know Pioli had 29, but she's a fantastic shooter. She got a little too much space." McGunnigal said Safranski had a "nice offensive explosion for her" and was so happy she did it in a game like this against a key rival. Pioli poured in a game-high 29 points for L-P. She went 8-14 from the floor, as well as a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line.