Things got off to a sluggish start Monday night. The Lady Bulldogs forced nine turnovers, but had difficulty converting. They got off 21 shots in the first eight minutes, but made just five of them. Nevertheless, they were still up 12-6 when the opening quarter came to an end.

But that gap continued to widen from there. After scoring the final four points of the first period, SAHS scored the first nine points of the second quarter. Abbi Hatton had three of those, while Anna Faber, Stacie Vonderheide and Lucy Fearday each had a bucket, expanding the lead to 21-6.

“We started a little slow, but we stayed disciplined,” Rios noted. “We weren’t shooting the ball well, but we executed very well. And we didn’t turn the ball over much.”

By halftime, St. Anthony had taken 41 shots, while limiting the Lady Cardinals to only 18. That was largely due to turning the ball over 17 times. At intermission, the margin was 18 points, 30-12.

Riley Guy knocked down a three-pointer and scored five points and Fearday added four more as the Lady Bulldogs rattled off the first 11 points of the second half and built a comfortable 41-12 advantage five minutes into the third quarter.

It was 47-16 at the end of the period, resulting in a continuously running clock in the final quarter.

St. Anthony dominated every phase of the game. They out-shot North Clay 67-33, held a commanding 38-21 edge on the boards and forced the Lady Cardinals into 29 turnovers, while committing just six.

Lucy Fearday led all scorers with 14 points, while Grace Karolewicz turned in a double-double performance with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Hatton also pulled down 10 boards.

The Lady Bulldogs finished 25-of-67 overall, a 37 percent clip. They were 2-for-5 from behind the arc and 7-for-13 at the foul line. North Clay shot just 24 percent, making 8-of-33 attempts. The Lady Cardinals missed all seven of their three-point shots and were 2-for-4 from the free throw line.

St. Anthony has now won 10 of its last 11 games.

“We’re playing team basketball,” Rios said. “We’re sharing the ball and our scoring is more spread out. We’re also playing better defense. During this stretch, we’ve been holding teams to under 40 points, while scoring close to 60. If we can continue to do that, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”

As mentioned earlier, St. Anthony improved to 18-9 overall and 6-1 in the NTC. Weather-permitting, they will host St. Elmo/Brownstown Thursday night.