jmetcalfe@delphosherald.com

NEW BREMEN — St. John’s put together a solid basketball game Thursday night at New Bremen.
The Blue Jays just couldn’t close the deal late, with the Lady Cardinals outscoring the Jays 15-9 in the final period to grab a 49-45 victory in Midwest Athletic Conference action on Senior Night at Cardinal Gymnasium.

The Jays (8-12, 8-14, 1-8 MAC) led 36-34 to start the ultimate quarter but struck first on a 3-ball by junior Erica Saine (12 points on 4 treys) at 5:50. Later on, the Jays led 42-38 on a triple by senior Jessica Recker (7 markers, 6 assist) at the 3:25 mark. That is when the Blue and Gold offense fell silent for the next 3:10. In that time frame, they missed their next four shots and turned it over three times (20 total). In the same span, the Cardinals scored the next seven markers, taking the lead for good on a triple from the right side by senior Haley Moeller (11 counters) at 1:47. Senior Meagan Brandt hit a pair of throws at the 24.3-second mark for a 45-42 edge. Blue Jay senior Katie Vorst (18 counters, 7 rebounds) then drove for a deuce at the 15-second mark and the Jays called their final timeout. Cardinal senior Kyla Otting hit two more throws at 12:6 ticks and called their final timeout to discuss strategy. Junior Emilie Fischbach was fouled and hit the first of the 1-and-1 at 7.5 ticks and missed the second, with the Jays getting the ball again after it was knocked out of bounds. However, on the inbounds pass, the Jays could not get a shot off and turned it over with a foul with .4 of a second left. Senior Hannah Holdren (9 markers, 8 caroms, 3 steals) hit the ninth and 10th singles of the period for the Cardinals (15-of-18 for the game for 83.3%) to seal the deal.

“We put ourselves in position to win the game but couldn’t finish. We have struggled with our confidence all season and that returned in the wrong situation,” St. John’s mentor Dan J. Grothouse said. “We got in too much of a hurry down the stretch and at certain times during the second half, getting rid of the ball before we should. Either that or we’d hesitate to make the necessary pass. It’s something we need to work on and try to solve.”

It was the foul shooting that was the key for New Bremen coach Chris Burden.