St. Louis Junior Varsity girls’ basketball took on Shepherd Thursday, Jan. 3, at home. Starters for St. Louis were Mikaila Borie, Jennifer Brown, Willow Fuentes, Adry Munoz, and Chloe O’Boyle. The game started off with freshman Adry Munoz sinking two free throws. It ended up being a very low-scoring quarter, with the Sharks down 5-6 to start the second.

Brown and Fuentes both scored to open the second-quarter for St. Louis, and Kiersten Francisco and Macie Salladay also scored two points each. Munoz ended the first half scoring with two points after an offensive rebound to give the Sharks the lead 16-15 going into halftime.

The third quarter was rough for the Sharks as they only scored six compared to the Bluejays’ 13. Shepherd took a 28-22 lead after the third quarter, but St. Louis picked it up to go on a 13-2 run during the rest of the game to win. O’Boyle started off the scoring with two points, and then Munoz sank three foul shots to take the lead away from the Bluejays. Borie and Francisco each scored in the final minutes, with Borie sinking two free throws with 24 seconds left in the game. St. Louis won 35-30 in an intense game that they worked hard to take back in the last quarter.

Jennifer Brown stated, “We really focused once it came into the fourth quarter. At one point, I heard the Shepherd coach tell one of his girls that we wanted it more. You could see it within the team that we wanted this win more than they did and that we were willing to work harder to the end to get it. I’m thrilled with this team and how hard we all work out there on the court.”

Scoring leaders for St. Louis were freshmen Adry Munoz and Kiersten Francisco both with seven points, then Chloe O’Boyle with six, Mikaila Borie with five, and Willow Fuentes with four.

St. Louis Junior Varsity boys’ basketball matched up against the Bluejays after the girls’ win. Starters for the Sharks were Demetrius Alspaugh, Michael Baysah, Logan Koutz, Ignatius Jackson, and Blake Siefka. It was a very intense game, and the Sharks were focused from the very start. St. Louis got the tip, and Baysah scored an “and-one” within the first 12 seconds to pump up his team and get the energy going. During the quarter, Jackson scored four points, Koutz scored two, and Alspaugh swished a single free throw. Sam Bebow scored an “and-one” to finish the first quarter scoring for St. Louis, putting them up 13-8.

The Sharks held Shepherd to only five points the entire second quarter while taking a commanding lead of 25-13 heading to halftime. Scoring came from Bebow and Siefka, along with Jordan Lowe, Andrew Taipalus, and Corban Allen, who sank the team’s first three-pointer of the game.

The second half started surprisingly slow for the Sharks, as they didn’t score for the first 4:37 until Allen scored a three and a two-point jumper to get things going. Bebow then scored two points to take a double-digit lead. After some more scoring by the Sharks’ offense, Blake Siefka drained a buzzer-beater three to end the quarter leading 42-23.

St. Louis scored very efficiently all night, and the fourth quarter was even better. They scored 17 points compared to Shepherd’s nine in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Allen, Jackson, and Baysah all added points, and Kolin Lyon and Austin Marsh both sank free throws near the end of the game to add to the Sharks’ total. Ben Dousuah dropped a three-pointer to finish the scoring for St. Louis at the very end of the game. The Sharks won 59-32 against the Bluejays in an incredible game that provided every single St. Louis player time on the court.

Andrew Taipalus shared, “We had the mindset to beat Shepherd. We came out performing our best.”

Scoring leaders were Corban Allen with 16 points, Sam Bebow and Blake Siefka with nine, Ignatius Jackson with eight, and Michael Baysah with seven.