Sixth-seeded St. Vincent girls basketball team upsets No. 3 Valley in district tourney

BISMARCK, Mo. -- Coming in as an underdog didn't scare the St. Vincent girls basketball team or cause it to waiver in any way against Valley on Monday night.

The sixth-seeded Indians had a rare height and speed advantage over No. 3 Valley, which led them to a 47-19 upset victory in a Class 2 District 3 quarterfinal.

"We're not a team that tries to run a lot, but tonight we felt that we had the size and the speed to beat them up and down the court," St. Vincent coach Chad Unterreiner said. "We knew they were going to be scrappy and they can shoot. The thing was, we disrupted them and you could tell."

St. Vincent did find its groove early and never let up on the Vikings.

The Indians jumped out to a 12-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and never trailed against the Vikings.

St. Vincent was also able to shut down two of Valley's best shooters, according to Unterreiner.

"[Lexie Black] and [Lauryn Gallagher] were their key shooters, and we shut them down tonight. They never got rolling and when they didn't, there goes their whole team," said Unterreiner, who's team held Valley to one point in the second and carried a 27-8 lead into halftime.

Black and Gallagher were held to just four points combined in the loss.

St. Vincent sophomore Faith Kapp finished with 13 points to lead the Indians, but Unterreiner said his team did a good job of spreading the ball around.

"Courtney Brown started out hot and was lights out, but it was a total team effort," Unterreiner said. "We may have scored 40, almost 50 points, but it wasn't like anybody stood out. We spread the scoring out, worked hard, got some offensive boards and put backs, so there isn't much more you could ask for. We did very well tonight and did a lot of things great."

St. Vincent will play second-seeded and host Bismarck in a semifinal at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Unterreiner said it doesn't matter who the Indians play at this point in the season, they need to be ready for anyone.

"Bismarck plays an excellent matchup zone. They've got a couple girls, who are great shooters," Unterreiner said. "The thing is, is that we're going to have our hands full with them. They've been playing well as of late and doing some good things late in the year. Anybody we play no will be a test, and our girls need to be ready for that."

St. Vincent 12 15 7 13 -- 47

Valley 7 1 6 5 -- 19

ST. VINCENT (47) -- Faith Kapp 13, Paige Yamnitz 9, Courtney Brown 7, Alexana Koisher 7, Kylie Baer 4, Emily Welker 3, Abby Rollet 2, Hannah Gotto 2. FG 18, FT 11-21, F 15 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none.)

VALLEY (19) -- Jamie Hutchings 6, Lexie Black 3, Tadum Heifner 2, Lacey Yount 2, Kaitlin Weeks 2, Madison Lucas 2, Lauryn Gallagher 1. FG 7, FT 4-8, F 16 (3-pointers: Black 1. Fouled out: none.)