Oak Ridge depth, speed overwhelms St. Paul in season-opening win

St. Paul Lutheran of Farmington came down to Oak Ridge on Monday for a season-opening girls basketball tilt with Julie Ward’s Bluejays, but the hosts came away unscathed with a 45-31 win that was closer than the score suggested on a cold and rainy night in southeast Missouri.

After never having won their season-opening game, the Bluejays have started back-to-back seasons with wins, further marking Oak Ridge’s turnaround as a program.

Setting the program record for wins in a season with 10 last season, Oak Ridge’s routing win, and a 1-0 record, could be a sign of big things to come in the 2024 season for the Bluejays.

“Give it up to St. Paul,” Ward said. “They have some big girls on the inside that were tough. They have big, tough girls.

“Overall, I'm very pleased. A win is always a good thing. You really don't want to be playing your best ball right now, so we have some things to look forward to, things to work on and things to get better with.”

Oak Ridge's Madyson Ruehling (left) drives against a defender during a November 20, 2023 game between the Oak Ridge Bluejays and the St. Paul Lutheran Giants at Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Mo. Oak Ridge defeated St. Paul Lutheran, 45-31.Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com

In total, St. Paul dressed just six players for the game, going heavily undermanned into a game with a much deeper Bluejays squad.

In St. Paul’s third game in three seasons against Oak Ridge, it fell to 1-2 against the Bluejays all-time after dropping two games in the calendar year – once in February, and again on Monday.

The Giants opened the game with the first two points, both on free throws, but an ensuing 10-1 run from the Bluejays forced St. Paul’s Andy Sherrill into a timeout after falling into a big hole early.

By the end of the first quarter, Oak Ridge had jumped out to a 15-3 lead fueled largely by transition buckets and sloppy turnovers from St. Paul.

Reagan Howe led the Bluejays with eight points scored in the first quarter, helping to build a big lead for her squad early on.

By the end of the first half, Oak Ridge had built a 23-10 lead. Both sides of the ball took a slight downtick, with St. Paul’s defense playing tough and Julie Lunsford hitting a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 11.

The trend continued in the third quarter, with the Giants cutting the lead down to seven at 30-23. Oak Ridge’s transition attack had been neutralized, and the Bluejays couldn’t hit their shots.

With time waning in the third, Josie Berkerey hit a big 3-pointer to cut into the lead, and Julie Lunsford hit one more, her third of the game at the start of the fourth to cut the deficit to just six.

Oak Ridge began to dominate pace again in the fourth quarter, and with 4:26 left on the game clock, Sherrill called for another timeout down 39-29.

Still attempting to rally, Pippa Detring of the Giants got a little too close to her assignment and ended up fouling out. This knocked St. Paul down to just four players after Detring became the second player to foul out, officially putting the comeback out of reach.

“Knowing that with six kids coming down here, and that they like to run, we were gonna have some trouble,” Sherrill said. “But we were able to get them out of their press, which is an important spot, and I love that the kids fought back.”

Oak Ridge's Madyson Ruehling (right) is fouled on the way up during a November 20, 2023 game between the Oak Ridge Bluejays and the St. Paul Lutheran Giants at Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Mo. Oak Ridge defeated St. Paul Lutheran, 45-31.Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com

With a final score of 45-31, Oak Ridge’s defense led the way to a big win in the Bluejays’ home opener. While the Giants shot a higher percentage than expected from the perimeter, Oak Ridge’s tough interior defense sealed the victory.

The Bluejays pulled away largely in part to a six-point quarter from Howe, who also led Oak Ridge defensively with a handful of blocks in the win.

The Bluejays’ pace-and-space style makes them an eccentric watch, and it resulted in some early woes but eventually a win on opening night as they’re still working to learn the ins and outs of their offense.

“Your first game, you're gonna come out and you're gonna make all kinds of mistakes,” Ward said. “Bad passes, walks, not looking for the open man. I knew that we were going to come out tight in that first half.

“This is a team that likes to run. This team will run and run and run. We’re trying to work them back off a little bit and run some plays that will help us throughout the rest of the season.”

Oak Ridge's Madalyn Schemel (left) drives right during a November 20, 2023 game between the Oak Ridge Bluejays and the St. Paul Lutheran Giants at Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Mo. Oak Ridge defeated St. Paul Lutheran, 45-31.Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com

Howe led the Bluejays in scoring with 18 points, while Madyson Ruehling followed close behind with 12 of her own.

Now 1-0, the Bluejays still have a long road ahead of them to a successful season. With their first win in hand, however, the confidence rises going on the road to Bloomfield on Tuesday night.

Setting the program record for wins last year with a 10-15 season, Oak Ridge wants to double down on that record by setting it again this year.

“This year, we'd like to have a winning record,” Ward said. “Our goal is to win between 14, 15 games. Even if we're 15-14 That's still a winning record for us.

“Building on that and letting our younger girls come to these games and say ‘You know what? Oak Ridge has something good going on. They're getting better and better.’ The more we improve, the better it’ll be for our program.”