Steelville High School’s girls’ basketball team lost a pair of hard fought games on the road last week against quality opponents in Potosi in St. Clair. The Lady Cardinals played in Potosi on Jan. 12 before playing on Jan. 15 in St. Clair. Both games are detailed below.

Steelville’s junior varsity team competed in the Licking JV Tournament from Jan. 13 to Jan. 17. The Lady Cardinals defeated Licking on Jan. 13 before toppling Willow Springs and Iberia on Jan. 17 to win first place in the tournament. 

Steelville’s varsity team is now 6-10 on the season and will compete in the St. James Invitational beginning on Jan. 20 against Waynesville, which will be detailed next week. The Lady Cardinals will also play on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 in the tournament, but specific times and opponents are TBD based on the results of the Waynesville game.

Steelville will then host Bourbon on Jan. 27 and play in Vienna on Jan. 28 before hosting Cuba on Jan. 31 for the Cardinals’ annual Pink Out Game in support of locals who are battling cancer.

Jan. 12 vs. Potosi

The Lady Cardinals played in the second game of the triple-header between Potosi in Steelville in between the boys’ JV games and varsity games. Steelville was coming off a comeback victory over Laquey to earn third place in the Battle in Bourbon Tournament, but ran into a strong 11-2 Lady Trojans team. Steelville was still without starting senior forward Marley Eilert, but kept the game close for the first two and a half quarters.

Potosi got out to a 15-8 lead after the first quarter, but the Lady Cardinals began the second frame on a 7-2 run to make it a two-point game. The Lady Trojans responded with an 8-3 run of their own to end the first half with a 25-18 lead over the Lady Cards. Things went downhill for Steelville in the third, as they were outscored 17-7 in the frame and Potosi took a 42-25 lead into the final quarter. The Lady Cardinals topped the Lady Trojans 11-6 in the fourth quarter, but Potosi’s 17-point lead was too much to overcome and Steelville fell 48-36 to go to 6-9 on the season. Steelville outrebounded the Lady Trojans 41-35, but shot just 28 percent from the field and 15 percent from three-point land.

Jazmyn Hurd led the Lady Cardinals with 13 points on a three-pointer and five baskets near the rim. Emeri Perkins scored nine, Peyton Brooks scored a season-high seven points, Sylvia Davis chipped in three and freshmen Kaylee Pitts and Alex Helms scored two points. Eden Robart scored a game-high 19 points and Chloe Rowe added 12 points for the Lady Trojans.

Jan. 15 vs. St. Clair

Steelville traveled to St. Clair to take on a strong 7-1 Lady Bulldogs team the night after the Cardinals’ boys team hosted the Bulldogs. The Lady Cards’ game was a back-and-forth competitive matchup where the lead changed numerous times. St. Clair got out to a 20-12 lead after the first quarter, but the Lady Cardinals responded with a productive second quarter where they outscored the Lady Bulldogs 19-10 to take a 31-30 lead into halftime. The third quarter was also close and Steelville had a slight edge and headed into the fourth quarter with a 41-37 lead. But the Lady Bulldogs bookended their 20-point first quarter with a 20-point fourth quarter and pulled away at the end to defeat the Lady Cardinals 57-54.

The Lady Cardinals hit 10 three-pointers on the evening, led by Emeri Perkins, who drained six shots from downtown and finished with a game-high 26 points to lead Steelville. Jazmyn Hurd scored 12 points, and knocked down a pair of three-pointers. Peyton Brooks added five points and Aaleigha Decker and Adalei Perkins each hit a trey-ball to finish with three points. Alex Helms and Sylvia Davis each scored two points to round out the scoring for the Lady Cards. The Lady Bulldogs had three players score in double figures, led by Haylee Hartsook and Niah Sheta, who scored 18 and 14 points, respectively.

JV finals vs. Iberia

The Lady Cardinals’ junior varsity team played two games on Jan. 17 during the final day of the Licking JV Tournament.

Steelville defeated Willow Springs at 9 a.m. before taking on Iberia in the 1:30 p.m. finals. The Lady Cardinals trailed in the first quarter against Iberia and went into the second frame down 17-13. A switch then flipped for Phillip Gambill’s bunch in the second quarter as Steelville’s defense tightened to a vice grip. The Lady Cardinals gave up just two points in the second frame and took a 28-19 heading into the third. Steelville’s tenacious defense continued in the third as they only gave up one point in the frame to Iberia. The Lady Cardinals were able to turn defense into offense and their lead ballooned to 19 points heading into the fourth. Iberia tried to fight back in the fourth, but Steelville’s lead was too much to overcome and the Lady Cardinals won 50-35 to take first place in the tournament.

Adalei Perkins knocked down a trio of shots from downtown and finished with a game-high 22 points to lead Steelville. Kaylee Pitts added seven points, Brooklyn Thomas chipped in five, Alex Helms scored four, Kaylee Piersall added two and Claire Settles scored one to round out the scoring for the Lady Cards.

Gambill spoke afterward about how his team was able to persevere through the long day en route to the championship.

“It was a long day on Saturday. I was proud of our focus and execution through both games,” Gambill said. “It’s very tough to play two games in one day with a long break in between. I was very proud of our efforts.”