By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Bishop LeBlond girls' basketball team was in an all out battle with St. Joseph Christian early on, leading by only three points after the first quarter and at halftime.
The Golden Eagles, however, led by as many as 12 points in the second half and came away with a 45-36 win over the Lions on Tuesday night at St. Joseph Christian High School.
LeBlond (4-0), just four days removed from a Mound City tournament championship, forced 17 turnovers in the win and never trailed in the final two quarters.
Senior Kyla Conard led the way with 19 points.
"We knew (Christian) would be good in competition," Conard told St. Joseph Post after. "We worked hard (Monday) in practice preparing, we came out well and I thought we executed perfectly."
Christian (3-2) got back to within single digits in the latter stages of the fourth quarter, but were unable to close the gap. Senior Chloe Burnham led the Lions in defeat with 19 points. Junior Lexi McDaniel ended up with 12 points.
While Conard was the only Golden Eagle to finish in double figures Tuesday, several of her teammates made strong contributions.
Senior Kaleigh Ziesel finished with eight points - all in the second half. Another senior, Katie Beam, ended up with nine.
"Offensively, once we started sharing the ball and making the extra pass and not turning the ball over," LeBlond head coach Jackie Steltenpohl said, "we saw a little bit of a spread in the scoring like we wanted."
LeBlond boys explode in third quarter, rout St. Joseph Christian
The Bishop LeBlond boys' basketball team ended the first half on an 11-1 run, scored 31 third quarter points and ultimately ran away from St. Joseph Christian in a 73-36 thrashing of the Lions on Tuesday night.
LeBlond (4-0), also coming off a Mound City tournament title from over the weekend, got off to a hot start Tuesday, scoring 21 points in the first eight minutes.
The Golden Eagles stayed hot throughout, making nine total three-pointers. Juniors Jacob Winkelbauer and Trey Icke each scored 16 points in the win. Another junior, Chris Miljavic, tallied 12.
"I was proud of our kids," LeBlond head coach Mitch Girres said. "We played really hard. We're a different team than we were a year ago. We play different. It was nice to see them come out and compete on the defensive end and get a nice win tonight."
Christian's Nick Orscheln led the Lions with 17 points. The Lions took their first loss of the season after posting a PVI championship on Saturday.
Christian (4-1) really struggled coming out of halftime, scoring only five points in the third quarter.
LeBlond, who's won district titles each of the last two years, are off to a strong start after graduating two senior starters in Landon Gardner and Jake Korell from last year's team.
"Our schedule really picks up here in the next couple of weeks," Girres pointed out. "I'm hopeful we keep grinding out, keep trying to get better day in and day out, and that's really all we can do."
Both LeBlond teams are at Nodaway Valley Friday. Both St. Joseph Christian teams stay home to host North Harrison on Friday as well.
Additional photos from both games
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