GODFREY – Hardin-Calhoun and St. Joseph's of St. Louis County, thought it might not seem like it, have a few things in common.
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One of them is having two of the top girls' basketball programs in the St. Louis metro area.
The two teams squared off in the opener of the Atrium Hotel Great Rivers Shootout Saturday afternoon at Alton High School, and both the Warriors and Angels played each other fairly evenly before Calhoun took control in the third quarter and went to take a 63-48 win.
Both teams took small leads throughout the first half but neither could shake off the other until the Warriors got on a bit of a run, which made Calhoun coach Aaron Baalman pretty happy.
“I thought we did a lot nicer things late in the second quarter, early in the second half,” Baalman said. “I thought the girls did a good job matching up with the size; it took a little while to adjust, but the girls did a fantastic job.
“We felt we could run our transition (game); we got 6-8 points in a row off transition. Their length was that we weren't getting the outlets, but the girls fought hard in the first half staying in it and the second half, they had a great half.”
The Angels were giving the Warriors' Kassidy Klocke the three-point shot, and Klocke took advantage of it, knocking down several three-balls. “We worked on that at the half, not rotating her around and keeping her off the key, trying to pull that top defender and maybe getting slip from Grace (Baalman),” Aaron Baalman said, “but they were steady on Grace and Kassidy knocked down some big shots,
“We had some girls get into foul trouble and we had girls who came off the bench and gave us some quality minutes. That's what we've been lacking all year, our bench play hasn't been where I wanted it and today, they did a nice job.”
Rebounding was another big difference, at least in the eyes of Angels' assistant coach Bob Goessling, subbing for head coach Julie Matheny. “They rebounded the heck out of the game and we didn't,” Goessling said. “We didn't block out, and it's funny; we see a lot of teams our size or bigger and we're used to that.
“There's no excuses for it; it's just effort.”
The fact that Calhoun was able to play a team like St. Joe's speaks volumes to how far the Warrior program has come, Baalman felt. “That speaks volumes to our program and volumes to our girls,” Baalman said. “Four years ago, I don't think we get this match-up, but these girls have done a good job the last four years, putting themselves into position to play games like this, getting themselves well-known in the area. We were able to take advantage of it today.”
Klocke led the Warriors with 26 points, with Grace Baalman adding 17 and Emma Baalman 14. Mallory Stock and Mary LaBelle led the Angels with 10 points each, with Sophie Vogt and Alex Kerr adding six each.
Klocke and LaBelle were each named Liberty Bank Players of the Game.
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