ST. LOUIS • It didn’t look like Ursuline forward Sammy Warren was even going to still be playing at the end of Thursday’s Class 5 District 2 semifinal girls basketball game against rival Nerinx Hall. Not after picking up her fourth foul late in the third quarter.
But the sophomore was still around in the waning seconds, which was a good thing for the Bears. Warren nailed a 10-foot jumper with seven seconds left in the game to break a tie and give her team a 44-42 win at St. Louis University High.
“I was a little nervous,” said Warren, whose shot hit the front of the rim and then rolled in. “It was teetering there. I was just relieved when it went in. I was just happy to do something to help.”
The win advances the Bears (20-7, No. 9 in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-school rankings) to their first district title game since 1988. They’ll play St. Joseph’s at 1 p.m. Saturday. St. Joe's earned a spot in the title game by defeating Webster Groves in the other semifinal on Thursday.
Nerinx Hall (No. 7 large schools) finishes the season at 17-10.
The Bears blew a big early lead and lost 64-55 to the Markers a little over a week ago. They must have had a here-we-go-again feeling when an early 9-4 lead unraveled as Nerinx went on a 17-2 run to take a 21-10 lead with 1:54 left in the half.
But Ursuline scored the last six points of the half to give itself some momentum going into the second half.
“We wouldn’t have won (if that hadn’t happened),” Ursuline coach Mary Hannig said.
Ursuline opened the third quarter on a 15-5 run to go up 31-25 with 2:54 left in the third quarter. Nerinx again rallied to go up 40-38 with 2:29 left on a free throw by Maddie Simonds. Ursuline, however, got the big buckets down the stretch when it needed them.
Heather Pesigan gave the Bears a big lift in the second half. Scoreless in the first 16 minutes, the junior had nine points in the final two quarters, and tallied the assist on the winning bucket by Warren.
“It seems like in the bigger games, she scores more of her points in the second half, which says a lot,” Hannig said of Pesigan.
Hannah Weisbrod netted eight in the first quarter and eight in the second for a game-high 16 points.
“We refused to lose whenever they came back,” Weisbrod said. “It was an adrenaline rush for everyone.”
Not for the Markers, obviously. Coach Mike Slater put the responsibility for the loss on his shoulders. He put his team in a halfcourt trap right before Warren’s winning shot, which he said turned out to be a bad idea.
“It should have been a different defensive call on my part,” he said. “I didn’t arm our kids with a contingency … if this, then that. I thought I knew where the ball was going to be and obviously I didn’t.”
The Markers were led by Abbie Marshall who had 10 points. Lexi Cochran and Simonds each chipped in nine points.
The Bears have a day to prepare for St. Joe’s. Ursuline lost to the Angels 83-48 on Dec. 6.
“I’m just glad we get a chance to play them again,” Hannig said. “We didn’t play our best against them. I just hope we play well against them.”
Follow all of the playoff brackets here. In other district basketball action:
ST. JOSEPH’S 76,WEBSTER GROVES 34 • The Angels started district play in impressive fashion. St.Joe’s outscored Webster 29-5 in the first quarter and led 47-18 at the half en route to the lopsided win.
The Angels (23-5, No. 2 large schools) will play for the district title on Saturday.
Webster (No. 10 large schools) finished the season 19-9.
“We had a job to take care of, and they did a pretty good job taking care of business,” Angels coach Julie Matheny said. “I was really happy with all the effort as far as on the boards and simple things.”
St. Joe’s, which had a terrific game shooting the ball, had 10 players score. Maddie Stock (20 points), Sydney Stipanovich (19) and Morgan Stock (13) led the offense.
“We came out really strong,” said Stipanovich, who also had 12 rebounds. “We know each game from here on out we have to play our hardest from beginning to end.”
Webster, which fell behind 17-0 just four minutes into the contest, was led by senior Jordan Thompson's 13 points.
“They just shots lights out,” Webster coach Patti Perkins said. “We couldn’t buy, steal, beg … we couldn’t shoot anything. Like I told the coaching staff, no matter who we were playing tonight, if we shoot that poor, we’re going to go down. And no matter who St. Joe’s playing, if they shoot that well, they’re going to beat Mizzou’s men.”
Thursday marked the end of an illustrious career for Thompson. She finished second on the school’s all-time career scoring list. The Washington University recruit, after a slow start against the Angels, scored eight straight points for Webster at the end of the first half.
“I do (hate to see her go),” Perkins said of Thompson. “But she’s ready to move on.to the next level.”
