The Webster Groves girls basketball team will get a good tuneup this week for what figures to be a brutally tough Class 5 District 2 tournament.
The Statesmen will host the eight-team Webster Winter Challenge today through Saturday. The event features one of the better fields area-wide this season.
"Three of the teams are ranked like in the top five in the state," Webster coach Patti Perkins said. "The rest of us little peons are ‘on the bubble' (of making it into the STLhighschoolsports.com's large-schools rankings). We're all above .500."
The top tier in the field includes St. Joseph's (17-4), Rock Bridge (15-3) and Fort Zumwalt West (16-3). They are joined by Webster Groves (14-5), Cor Jesu (11-9), Hazelwood Central (9-6), O'Fallon (13-6) and Belleville East (15-8).
Belleville East will play Rock Bridge in one of the first-round games at 6 p.m. today, and Cor Jesu and Zumwalt West follow at 7:30. O'Fallon and Webster will do battle Wednesday in another first-round game at 6 p.m., and Hazelwood Central will play St. Joe's at 7:30.
The semifinal games are Friday at 7 and 8:30 p.m. The title game is Saturday at 4:30.
The host Statesmen are a darkhorse. They have clawed their way back into the rankings at No. 10 after being as high as No. 8 a few weeks ago. Webster has won eight straight following a 6-5 start.
"Our schedule has definitely lightened up," Perkins said. "I'm not blind to that. Our conference is down a little bit. But we're playing well. Several young players have stepped up."
Included in that group are freshman Rachel Sondag and Mallory Moran. Sondag is averaging 7.9 points and Moran 4.2.
"Rachel is really coming into her own and gaining confidence," Perkins said.
Webster's most consistent performers have been senior Jordan Thompson, who recently moved into the No. 3 spot on Webster's career scoring list with 1,372 points, and junior Abbie Paloucek. Thompson, a Washington University recruit, is averaging a team-high 16.9 points and 3.1 assists, while Paloucek is putting up 7.9 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds.
Perkins is hopeful the Statesmen can get by O'Fallon in the first round. That's because they likely then would get to play St. Joe's in the semifinals.
Those two could meet in Class 5 District 2, a loaded district that also includes Ursuline, Nerinx Hall and Ladue. Those teams are a combined 44-15 and will add to the competitiveness of the tournament.
"We still have a goal of winning conference, too," Perkins said. "To do that we have to beat Kirkwood . To help us do that this (tournament) will give us some good prep work."
PARKWAY NORTH REBOUNDS FROM SLOW START
Parkway North coach Will Young was optimistic when the season kicked off in late November.
"We had a good summer, competed well against some good teams, and we had a lot returning in terms of talent and experience," Young said. "We expected a lot from them early."
Thus, he was disappointed by North's 5-4 start.
"For whatever reason we didn't come together at first," he said. "Our focus was in an out."
The Vikings have been tuned in lately. They've won six straight and eight of 10. Their most recent victory was an impressive 59-32 win Friday over a pretty good Jennings squad in the final of the Parkway Central Tournament.
"I think they've kind of learned what it means to play 32 minutes and be focused, and play for each other and pull for each other and all be on the same page defensively," Young said. "I think that's a big part of it."
North showed it was a different team when it topped Pattonville 50-38 a couple weeks ago. That's the same Pattonville team that waxed North 59-33 early this season.
"When we get our minds together and focus and work as a team and stop penetration, then we can be a good team," said junior guard Amber Alexander, who leads North in scoring (16.5 points), assists (4.7) and steals (4.1). "We still have room to improve."
Naomi Bryant has stepped up her game in recent weeks, too. A junior forward and North's top rebounder, Bryant has emerged as a big scoring threat. She had a career-high 23 points against Pattonville and scored 21 against Jennings.
"Naomi's very athletic," Young said. "She's been hit with some nice passes. Amber does a good job of penetrating and finding her. That's part of coming together as a team."
BIG WIN FOR HAZELWOOD WEST
Hazelwood West have been playing well pretty much all season, as its 11-5 record would suggest. However, the Wildcats didn't have a signature win until they knocked off Francis Howell Central 60-46 last Tuesday.
"That's definitely the highest-profile team we've played and beat," West coach Jim Fleming said. "We came out with some hot shooting, and they came out a little tentative."
Alexis Robinson led the Wildcats with 19 points and 15 rebounds. She followed that with 29 points and 18 rebounds in a 65-44 win over Riverview Gardens the following night.
"Alexis has had a number of good games," Fleming said. "She's been really, really on fire. She's really, really come on in the last couple weeks. She's giving us that good inside presence."
Other players making big contributions include Mia Williams, who is averaging 12.8 points, Akayla Mitchell (9.1 points) and Araka Norwood (8.7 points).
"We're on a pretty nice roll right now," Fleming said. West has won four straight games and 10 of its last 13. "We've got three games this week against pretty good competition. Hopefully, we can continue to keep the ball rolling."
Hazelwood West has an outside shot of earning a piece of the Suburban North Conference title. It will need to beat Pattonville and hope the Pirates take down Hazelwood Central.
"I've put that in their ears already," Fleming said. "They know what the possibilities are if they keep winning."
