C2D3: St. Vincent looks to continue turnaround season with district championship

The St. Vincent Lady Indians entered the season with a team consisting of no seniors and only one junior.

Yet they are now one win away from their first district championship since 2011.

The Indians advanced to the Class 2 District 3 championship game on Saturday after defeating Greenville 55-27 in dominating fashion on Thursday in Advance.

“They were a little nervous coming out, St. Vincent coach Ryan Prost said, “shooting was a little bit off, but overall, I think they cleaned it up in the second half and they played really good defense.”

It was a team effort, as St. Vincent had four girls score in double-figures against the Lady Bears. Junior Cailyn Prost led the Indians with 14 points, followed by Allie Patrick and Haley Emmendorfer, who returned from injury. Lana Adams also scored 11 points for St. Vincent.

“They all kind of did their role,” Prost said. “It was a pretty good, all-around team effort. It was [Emmendorfer’s] first game back from injury, she had four big threes for us. It was good to have her back [Thursday] for that and her defense.”

This year has been quite the turnaround for St. Vincent, which finished 10-17 last season. The Indians’ only winning season in the last four years came in 2021 when they went 11-10. The Indians won their 20th game, their first since 2011, on Feb. 9, with a 67-31 blowout win at home over Oak Ridge.

St. Vincent will take on Oran on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Lady Eagles will have a chance to win their 10th straight district championship after winning a 53-37 victory over Advance with Bell City (6-19) on Thursday. Haley Webb led the Eagles with a game-high 21 points.

“Oran’s a great team, they won this thing nine years in a row, we know that,” Prost said. “We’re going to have to play our best game to beat them.”