St. John’s senior Katie Vorst finds the going tough versus Spencerville freshman Caitlyn Probst during a non-league girls hardwood contest at Spencerville Thursday night. The Jays rallied with a 21-4 third period and the charity line to grab a 24-point triumph.

That is until the second half when the Lady Blue Jays took advantage of deep foul trouble by Spencerville and used the free-throw line to emerge with a 50-26 non-league hardwood victory at Spencerville.

The Jays (5-3) canned 21-of-33 free throws (63.6%) versus 10-of-16 by the Lady Bearcats (62.5%).

The Lady Bearcats (1-8) took advantage of a cold-shooting Jays’ squad (6-of-20 in the first half and seven turnovers; 14-of-36 for the game — 1-of-7 from deep — for 38.9% and 16 errors overall) to lead 18-17 at the end of a half.

However, the hosts struggled with fouls in the third period, getting whistled for 10 in the stanza alone (26 for the game versus 13 for the visitors) — three of them illegal screens — and putting the Jays in the double-bonus before the horn blew. Three Bearcats, including senior Abby Freewalt (4 points, 3 boards), sophomore Katie Merriman (4 caroms) and freshman Caitlyn Probst (5 boards), were called for their fourth fouls in the stanza. The Jays took the lead for good on two tosses by senior Katie Vorst (17 markers, 9 boards, 3 steals) at 7:25 and they canned 11-of-13 singles in the stanza, including two by junior Emilie Fischbach with no time left on the clock, to finish off a 21-4 third period and grab a 38-22 bulge.