Saxony Lutheran wins triple overtime thriller over St. Vincent

Four quarters weren't enough on Monday evening as the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders downed the St. Vincent Indians 71-67 in triple overtime.

Some timely free throw shooting and good clock management allowed the Crusaders to hang on.

“We’ve got a lot of seniors on our team,” Crusaders coach Chris Crawford said. “We play all upperclassmen and so they understood the situation. It wasn’t always pretty but we did a good job of taking care of things.”

While Saxony Lutheran won in triple overtime, it looked as if they would win in double overtime as they held a three-point lead with just five seconds remaining in the extra period.

Good execution by the Indians led to a wide open corner three for Abigail Schilling that she drilled as time expired to send the game into a third overtime.

With the Crusaders down Camille Richey and Abby Haley, who both fouled out, they turned to senior Becca Johnson who wasn’t originally going to play due to injury.

“We had to bring Becca in and that was not planned,” Crawford said. “She did a great job. All of our ball handlers were on the bench at that point. She came in and gave us a little boost there.”

Once again Evie Caruso proved to be a workhorse offensively for Saxony Lutheran as she posted a game-high 25 points to lead the Crusaders to a win.

“She does a lot of hard work underneath,” Crawford said. “We’ve really been working hard on getting the ball into her and making sure that she has options when she does get the ball.

Overall, Crawford loved the compete level with which his team played.

“I’m super proud,” Crawford said. “We talked before the game that the only team that beats us, is us, especially when we turn the ball over. I thought we did a really good job for the majority of the game of taking care of the ball and getting the shots that we want.”

Following up Caruso’s 25-point night was Maddie Preusser with 14 points and Timora Criddle with 10 points.

Leading the way for St. Vincent was Allie Patrick who had 18 points before exiting with an injury in the third overtime.

The win for Saxony Lutheran comes after losing to Cape Central 45-42 in the consolation final of the SEMO Conference Tournament last Friday.

“I think there’s a lot of people that wrote us off after that Cape Central game,” Crawford said. “This was a big statement game. St. Vincent is as good as anybody in the area.”

St. Vincent (3-2) will return for its home opener at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7, when the Indians host Fredericktown at St. Vincent High School.

Saxony Lutheran (3-2) hits the road at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7, for a battle with Doniphan at Doniphan High School.

“Doniphan is a tough team,” Crawford said. “They’re big, they’re athletic, they’re strong and they’re going to pressure us. We just have to do the same things. Take care of the basketball, rebound well and make shots when we’re open.”