ST. LOUIS • When it squeaked past Rosati-Kain by two points in early January, the St. Dominic girls basketball team looked like anything but a world-beater.
"It was really frustrating for me and the girls," Crusaders coach Suzie Mennemeier said. "Nothing was going in, and we just weren't playing very well."
It didn't last long. The Crusaders proceeded to win their next nine games in a row -- seven of them the Archdiocesan Athletic Association -- to improve to 9-0 in the conference.
St. Dominic's improved play was obvious in a rematch with Rosati on Thursday night at Rosati. Though the Kougars threatened to make a game of it in the fourth, St. Dominic held on for a 45-38 victory.
The Crusaders, who got a game-high 12 points from guard Lauren Needham, improved to 17-5. Rosati fell to 13-10 overall and 6-4 in the conference.
Needham said that in their first meeting with Rosati, the Crusaders came out sluggish. This time, they were champing at the bit.
"We came in here fired up," the senior said. "We didn't come out as strong in the second half as we wanted, and they caught up. ... Once their fans got going, we just kind of freaked out a little bit."
St. Dominic led 37-27 at the end of the third, and were ahead 39-30 midway through the fourth when the Kougars started to slice into the lead. Consecutive baskets by Brittany Shollar and Emily Seacrest, and a free throw from Jill Griebel cut the lead to four with 2:23 to play.
But the Crusaders answered with a pair of free throws by Kelly Schnieders, who finished with 10 points, and a layup by Needham to make it 43-35. It was a good thing they got those four points, because the Crusaders hit just two of eight free throws down the stretch.
"We stuck together in the end," Needham said. "We didn't make our free throws, but it will come to us. As long as our defense is this tight, I think we'll be pretty good."
While the quicker Crusaders preferred to run, Rosati attempted to slow the pace down so 6-foot-3 Oluwashayo Oginni and 5-foot-10 Katie Kessler could get some things done on the inside. Kessler scored a team-high 12 points, but Oginni was held to six.
In the last two minutes, Rosati seniors Griebel and Erin Emerson fouled out, and the Crusaders held on.
"They are quicker than we are, and we were trying to keep them from running," said Rosati coach Meghan Taylor. "We fought back in the fourth, but it was tough when we lost our two seniors."
Mennemeier said Rosati always seems to hang in against her club.
"That's the way it always goes," the St. Dominic coach said. "(Meghan) has a great team, she does a great job with them. They never give up. You know it's going to be a battle no matter how many points you're up."
That's where Mennemeier thought Needham really stepped up her game.
"She's our little leader on the court," Mennemeier said. "She knows when to take the ball to the hole, and she knows when we need a bucket real bad. She came through a couple times and answered down the stretch when they scored a big one."
