ST. JAMES — A chance for at least a share of the Four Rivers Conference (FRC) girls basketball title.

That is what John VanLeer’s Owensville Dutchgirl basketball team was after Thursday night on the road against St. James’ Lady Tigers.

Deadlocked at 7-7 after one quarter, the orange and black survived four lead changes in the second quarter closing the first half on a 9-2 run for an 18-12 halftime lead.

Seeing the host Lady Tigers get within three points on two occasions in the fourth quarter, Owensville went 10-14 from the free-throw line helping them hand St. James their loss in conference play by a final score of 38-32.

“We locked them down defensively tonight,” VanLeer said. “Even though we fell behind in the first quarter, our girls kept battling and never gave up all night.”

Down 5-0 midway through the first quarter, Dutchgirl senior Emma Daniels singlehandedly helped Owensville tie the game at 7-7 after eight minutes of basketball.

A Cameron Nowack bucket with 7:13 until halftime gave OHS their first lead of the game at 9-8.

After the lead changed hands twice, an Anya Binkhoelter old-fashioned 3-point play sparked a 9-2 run ending the first half with Owensville on top 18-12 in a very tough place to win at on the road.

“Coach (Terry) Wells always has his girls ready to play at home,” VanLeer said. “We were really fortunate to get the win tonight putting us right back in the hunt to share a conference title.”

In spite of being edged 8-7 in the third quarter, the Dutchgirls took a 25-20 lead into the fourth quarter.

Seeing their lead cut to three points at 25-22 with 6:20 remaining, Binkhoelter splashed home a huge 3-pointer doubling the lead back to six at 28-22 with 5:45 to play.

“Anya (Binkhoelter) made a couple of huge timely shots for us tonight,” VanLeer said.

Scoring the rest of their fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line, Owensville saw Ali Daniels for 8-10 from the charity stripe while Nowack was also 2-4 in the final quarter.

Netting 10 of her game-high 13 points in the second half, Ali Daniels nearly finished with a double double adding seven rebounds and three assists.

Emma Daniels also reached double figures for the Dutchgirls scoring seven of her 12 points in the first quarter.

Nowack flirted with a double double racking up seven points and seven rebounds.

Binkhoelter rounded out the Owensville scoring at St. James with six points.

Even though she didn’t figure in the scoring, Audrey Quilacio contributed four steals and two assists.

“Audrey was huge for us defensively tonight,” VanLeer said. “She also had a huge assist in the fourth quarter on Anya’s 3-pointer.”

Lydia Kemnitzer led St. James with nine points.

Closing their regular season tomorrow (Thursday) night at home against North County’s Lady Raiders, VanLeer’s Dutchgirls will open the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4, District 10 Girls Basketball Tournament next Wednesday at Eldon High School as the top seed against the winner of Southern Boone and Blair Oaks.