The St. Anthony Lady Bulldogs jumped to a 19-2 lead and rolled to an impressive 62-21 victory at home Tuesday over Dieterich in their season opener.

Ali Kollman and Nancy Ruholl both scored 10 points and Ady Rios added nine in the first half, helping St. Anthony expand its lead to 33-6 at halftime.

Ruholl finished with a game-high 22 points. Rios scored 13 and Kollman added 12.

The Lady Bulldogs will return to action Thursday at Sandoval.

The St. Anthony Bulldogs broke on top early and maintained that lead throughout, posting a 45-33 victory Wednesday night over Nokomis in a semifinal game of the Class 1A Bethany (Okaw Valley) Regional.

The Bulldogs will now face Arcola in the sectional championship. The Purple Riders, who are 25-6, defeated Okaw Valley 51-38 to also earn a berth in the sectional final. The championship contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.

Sam Link and Brock Fearday both scored four points and Collin Westendorf and Ryan Schmidt knocked down three-pointers, as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-5 lead after the opening eight minutes. It was still a nine-point lead, 26-17, at halftime.

Nokomis outscored St. Anthony 7-5 in the third period to close the gap to seven points, but Schmidt scored seven points in the final quarter to help the Bulldogs expand the lead and secure the victory.

Westendorf and Schmidt both scored 13 points to lead St. Anthony’s scoring attack, while Fearday added nine.

The Bulldogs, the regional’s top seed, improved to 29-4 on the season. Arcola is seeded No. 4.

The winner will advance to the St. Anthony Sectional.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

Disappointing.

That’s how St. Anthony basketball coach Cody Rincker described Friday night’s game.

His Bulldogs, the top seed in the Bethany (Okaw Valley) Regional and the No. 1-ranked team in all of Class 1A, saw its season come to an unexpected end.

They ran into a determined and scrappy team from Arcola. The Purple Riders built a double-digit lead, lost it, battled back to tie it and then knocked down 9-of-10 free throws in the final 73 seconds to come away with a 57-52 victory in overtime to capture the regional championship.

Arcola will now advance to the St. Anthony Sectional, which will be played Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at the Enlow Center.

Some aspects of St. Anthony’s game were good enough to win Friday night. The Bulldogs held a 28-23 rebounding edge and only turned the ball over six times. But it’s almost impossible to win postseason games when shooting only 32 percent.

“It was just one of those nights,” Rincker said. “We couldn’t get shots to fall. We had our chances. We simply didn’t make the most of them. The kids played their hearts out. It’s just disappointing.”

SAHS trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half and were on the short end of a 29-20 score at halftime. But after Arcola’s Gerardo Alanis connected on a three-pointer to open the second half and make it a 12-point spread again, the Bulldogs mounted a charge.

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The St. Anthony Bulldogs must have been inspired by the NBA All-Star Game.

They scored early and often. Virtually at-will.

When it was over, the top-seeded Bulldogs had a 78-point victory – no, that’s not a typo -- posting a lopsided 105-27 victory at home over Ramsey in an opening-round game of the Class 1A Bethany (Okaw Valley) Regional.

This one was over at the opening tip. Brock Fearday started a barrage from three-point range that continued throughout the game. He hit three in the opening eight minutes and scored 11 points, helping the host Bulldogs build a comfortable 30-6 lead.

It just got worse from there.

Brock Fearday knocked down three more behind the arc in the second period, and Henry Brandt and Ryan Schmidt also got in the fun from long range. At intermission, St. Anthony was on its way to cracking the century mark, leading 53-13.

Before it was over, the Bulldogs had recorded 21 three-pointers Eight different players connected from behind the arc, with Brock Fearday finishing with eight of them.

The score was 83-24 after three periods and SAHS scored 22 more with a continuously running clock in the final eight minutes.

Brock Fearday led four players in double figures with 31 points. Collin Westendorf scored 21, Schmidt added 15 and Will Fearday came off the bench to knock down a trio of threes and finish with 11.

The Bulldogs, who are also the No. 1-ranked team in Class 1A, improved to 28-4 on the season. They will return to action Wednesday night in Bethany. They will face No. 6 seed Nokomis in a semifinal game at 6 p.m.