Girls basketball: St. Bede uses balanced scoring, strong defense to beat Seneca

PERU – St. Bede’s defense was strong throughout, and the Bruins used a big second half to pull away from Seneca on Monday for a 58-29 Tri-County Conference victory at the Academy.

The Bruins, who outrebounded the Fighting Irish 34-17, got some big offensive rebounds early that allowed St. Bede to jump out to a 7-0 lead.

Ali Bosnich hit a pair of short jumpers, and Lily Bosnich had a steal and layup to kick-start the St. Bede offense.

With 3:20 left in the quarter, the Irish got things going as Lainie Olson got an offensive rebound and stickback for Seneca’s first points.

Seneca got a drive and bucket from Aubrie Jackson and an acrobatic shot from Olson as the Irish closed the quarter on a 6-0 run to make it 9-6 St. Bede.

Ali Bosnich hit a fadeaway jumper for the Bruins’ first points in more than five minutes. Bailey Engles converted a fast-break layup for the Bruins to go along with a drive and layup from Quinn McClain and a post move from Ashlyn Ehm to cap an 8-0 St. Bede run that pushed the lead to 17-6.

“I thought our defense was solid throughout the night,” St. Bede coach Stephanie Mickley said. “The girls were clicking tonight and had smiles on their faces, and we called a couple timeouts to settle down really quick and then back at it.”

Seneca went cold from the field on top of the Bruins’ defense playing well and missed some shots that would’ve made things closer in the first half. The Irish had a scoring drought of 7 1/2 minutes before Lauryn Barla got a steal and layup that made it 17-8.

St. Bede’s Ella Hermes drained a 3-pointer, and Seneca’s Alyssa Zellers responded with one of her own before Savannah Bray’s putback gave the Bruins a 23-11 halftime lead.

“We started out slow, and St. Bede played good defense,” Seneca coach Josh Myers said. “But I also thought we missed some easy shots that we normally would’ve made, which didn’t help us.”

The Irish started the third quarter off with a drive and layup by Barla, then Olson drained a 3-pointer to make it 27-16 St. Bede.

Zellers nailed a long-distance shot that made it 29-21 Bruins, but it was all St. Bede from that point on.

Ali Bosnich hit a pull-up jumper, and moments later Lili McClain found Engels for a three-point play as the lead grew to 34-21.

Ehm converted a fast-break layup for a 36-21 advantage before Zellers ended a 7-0 St. Bede run with a 3-pointer, but the Bruins responded with buckets from Ehm, Ali Bosnich and a 3-pointer from Hermes for a 45-27 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

St. Bede kept its foot on the gas as Ehm got a stickback and a foul, then Lily Bosnich picked up a steal and a layup as the Bruins cruised to victory.

“Great all-around effort tonight,” Mickley said. “We had three in double figures, and then we committed half the turnovers we forced and had double the rebound advantage, so I couldn’t be happier.”

St. Bede had three score in double figures with Ali Bosnich leading the way with 14 points followed by Ehm with 11 and Hermes with 10. Seneca was led by Zellers with nine points and Olson with seven.