St. Anne’s-Belfield’s Kymora Johnson buried a 3-pointer from the wing in the fourth quarter as part of her 25-point outing, turned, paused and then high-fived a member of the Saints’ boys basketball team that, as a group courtside, helped give STAB girls basketball a raucous student section and a homecourt advantage for the LIS Championship Thursday night.
“It means a lot to have people here to support women’s basketball — we’re always there for (the boys squad) so they paid it back to us,” Johnson said.
That high-five also showed just how confident, just how locked in the Saints were, but that was evident well before that moment in an 81-52 win that secured a fifth-straight LIS title.
STAB was ready to go from the jump. The Saints built a 20-10 lead on the strength of senior guard Olivia Wagner’s 11 first quarter points that kickstarted a 20-point performance by the Saints’ guard. That early spark was a major focus for the Saints coming into the clash with the Gators.
“Our last game on Tuesday we kind of struggled to start off,” Wagner said. “Today we prepared and approached every quarter like it was the fourth.”
STAB never let up either, winning all four quarters to keep extending that early lead until it become insurmountable for the Saints.
The Saints had clearly flipped a switch between Tuesday’s effective but far-from-overwhelming effort against Collegiate. The tandem of Johnson and Wagner producing 45 points between them was a big reason why. They both distributed well, knocked down multiple 3-pointers and wreaked havoc as part of the tip of the spear defensively on STAB’s press.
“It feels comfortable,” Wagner said. “We both have each other covered, we’re both versatile, it’s just normal.”
The feeling of comfort seems mutual and it’s obvious Johnson knew Wagner set the tone with that early explosion.
“She’s one of our best players on the team and having her step up early and getting us motivated,” Johnson said. “It just gives us a lot of motivation to finish it out.”
To balance out that excellent guard play, Khamare Steppe took the lead inside, scoring 15 points, cleaning up on the boards and scrapping for loose ball after loose ball. The 5-foot-10 forward was regularly on the ground creating tie-ups.
“I really love her crashing the boards and fighting for all the rebounds,” Wagner said. “You know her long arms are going to get them, I was really impressed with her.”
You can forgive the Saints if it didn’t feel like a title defense as they are 24 months removed from competing for the last LIS championship. But that absence may have made the heart grow fonder.
“For this group of seniors to miss their whole junior year — for everyone missing a year, it means a lot to win the conference championship and we’re going to states,” Johnson said.
The Saints now move on to the VISAA tournament. They’re currently No. 2 in the state rankings in VISAA’s Division I, brackets will be released this weekend.
