Delphos St. John’s races past Van Wert

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A veteran Delphos St. John’s team was too much for Van Wert, as the Lady Blue Jays posted a 54-31 win at Van Wert High School on Monday night.

The tone was set early, as Delphos St. John’s jumped out to a 13-4 lead, prompting a Van Wert timeout with 2:52 left in the first quarter. Paige Gaynier and Melanie Koenig each accounted for four points during the opening run. Gaynier led all scorers with 11 points, and Koenig had a game high eight rebounds.

The Lady Blue Jays went on to lead 18-6 at the end of the quarter, including a buzzer beating trey by Hannah Will, then extended the lead to 24-8 early in the second period, before leading 28-10 at halftime. Will finished with 10 points.

“We’ve been playing really well in the beginning of games lately, Delphos St. John’s head coach Nate Stant said. “When we were able to stretch it to 13 or 14, that’s the run we’ve been missing, so I think that showed the maturity of our team.”

“St. John’s was ready to play,” Van Wert head coach Hannah Phlipot said. “Our girls were flat, whether it’s Christmas break, not having school today or whatever the situation is, they mentally were way more prepared to play that game than we were, and it showed in the first quarter.”

“We got ourselves down immediately and little things that we pride ourselves on weren’t on point tonight,” Phlipot added.

Delphos St. John’s (5-5) was able to push the lead to 35-12 midway through the third quarter, then held a commanding 39-19 lead at the end of the period. Kyra Welch accounted for six of Van Wert’s nine third quarter points.

The advantage grew to 45-19 early in the fourth quarter, but Van Wert was able to outscore the visitors 15-6 from there, including a 9-0 run to end the game. Caylee Phillips scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter, while Carly Smith put in five points.

“Our kids never stop fighting,” Phlipot said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down two or down 25, they never stop fighting and you can’t ask any more. We went deep into the bench to give some kids some experience and to figure out what kind of a combination was going to work.”

Delphos St. John’s also won the rebounding battle 29-19.

“I’m very proud of them for making rebounding a strength so far this year,” Stant said. “We said let’s make sure that strength stays a strength and they did a great job of that again tonight.”

Jamison Clouse led Van Wert with seven rebounds.

The Lady Cougars (2-7) are off until Saturday, January 4, when they play at Delphos Jefferson.

“We’ll be able to take some time off and get some people healthy and legs back and that type of thing,” Phlipot said. “Then we can go back to focusing on us and those things that we pride ourselves on, instead of constantly trying to prepare for that next opponent.”

Delphos St. John’s will play at Wayne Trace on Saturday.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 6 4 9 15 – 34
St. John’s 18 10 11 12 – 51

Van Wert: Kyra Welch 4-0-8; Caylee Phillips 3-0-6; Sofia Houg 3-0-7; Carlee Young 2-0-5; Carly Smith 2-0-5; Emilee Phillips 1-0-2

Delphos St. John’s: Melanie Koenig 4-0-8; Paige Gaynier 3-5-11; Erika Moenter 1-0-3; Hannah Will 3-3-10; Aubrie Friemoth 2-0-6; Elly Wrasman 2-2-6; Abby Buettner 2-0-5; Abby Hensley 0-2-2

JV: Van Wert 47-31