Notre Dame girls repeat as tournament champion

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The bigger the Kirkwood players were, the harder Notre Dame senior forward Halle Lynch fell. And she came up smiling every time.

Lynch drew four second-half charges, a couple against Kirkwood's 6-foot-1 freshman standout Lauryn Miller. She also added seven points in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs, who were seeded second, defeated the top-seeded Pioneers 56-46 Saturday in the championship game of the Queen of Hearts Tournament at Villa Duchesne.

"I'm not afraid to take a charge," said Lynch, who set a career high with the four Saturday. "I guess it is my thing."

Lynch struggled in the first half against the powerful Miller and did not score any points. Bulldogs coach Renee Peters had a talk with her at halftime.

"She was struggling offensively, so I told her she better play better defense in the second half and she certainly did," Peters said. "It takes a special athlete to take a charge like she does and she has been our leader in that category. She is tough."

Lynch also drew the defensive assignment against Miller, who came into the game averaging more than 17 points and almost 10 rebounds a game.

"She is a very strong player, but we knew she like to go left," Lynch said. "We knew we had to push it to the right. It was a big challenge for sure, but I like a challenge like that."

Miller finished with 15 points, a couple under her average, but Lynch, who is seven inches shorter, made the Pioneer freshman earn all 15.

Notre Dame started the game slowly and scored just eight points in the opening quarter. Kirkwood took a 13-8 lead in the opening minute of the second quarter after a pair of free throws by Ellie Skelton.

It took the Bulldogs less than four minutes to go on a 13-0 run, which was keyed by a pair of 3-pointers by Annie Siebert and another by Kaitlin Welter.

That helped Notre Dame to a 27-20 halftime advantage. Siebert hit her third 3-pointer of the game to open the third quarter and give the Bulldogs a double-digit advantage.

It went away, though, by the end of the quarter and the game was tied 36-36 going into the fourth quarter.

Kirkwood's M.C. Brown hit the first basket of the quarter, but the Bulldogs had another run, this one 10 points, helped by a 3-pointer by Shelby Beussink.

The suffocating defense took over from that point, along with the charges drawn by Lynch.

"I think those charges gave us a mental boost," Peters said. "We had a tough third quarter, but we tend to wear teams out in the second half and we had a good fourth quarter. We are not a big team, so we need to do the little things well."

Notre Dame outscored Kirkwood 20-10 in the pivotal fourth quarter, and it converted 11 of its 16 free throw attempts.

"We were the defending champions, and I felt we should have gotten the top seed," Lynch said. "But that really doesn't matter now."

It was the Bulldogs who were taking photos with the championship trophy late Saturday afternoon.

Kirkwood, which had a pair of freshman in the starting lineup and as the first player off the bench, fell to 14-4. Miller led with 15 while fellow freshman Lola Bracy added 12.

Notre Dame, which used an eight-player rotation, all seniors, were led by Siebert's 18 points, eight steals and four assists. Karsen Powers and Beussink added 11 points each for the Bulldogs, who improved to 14-1. Beussink also recorded five steals and four rebounds. Lynch tallied eight rebounds and six steals for the Bulldogs.

The Queen of Hearts championship was the fourth in the last six years for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame 8 19 9 20 -- 56

Kirkwood 11 9 16 10 -- 46

NOTRE DAME (56) -- Karsen Powers 11, Annie Siebert 18, Shelby Beussink 11, Kaitlin Welter 5, Halle Lynch 7, Madeline Rosenquist 2, Kayce Landewee 2. FG 15, FT 11-16, F 13. (3-pointers: Siebert 3, Beussink 1, Welter 1. Fouled out: none)

KIRKWOOD (46) -- Lola Bracy 12, Ellie Skelton 2, Kacy Jacobs 2, M.C. Brown 8, Hava Turner 5, Lauryn Miller 15, Jordann Hamilton 2. FG 16, FT 8-12, F 20. (3-pointers: Bracy 2. Fouled out: Turner)