On Friday, the St. James Academy Thunder faced the Saint Thomas Aquinas Saints in a battle between two of the state's top teams. St. James Academy skirted past Saint Thomas Aquinas 55-53. The victory made it back-to-back wins for St. James Academy.
It was another big night for Reese Messer, who scored 28 points along with two steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of St. James Academy's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Elle Robinson, who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and nine rebounds.
St. James Academy pushed their record up to 12-4 with that victory, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.3 points per game. As for Saint Thomas Aquinas, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-6.
St. James Academy will head out on the road to take on Blue Valley North at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are closely ranked in Kansas (St. James Academy is ranked 15th, while Blue Valley North is ranked seventh). As for Saint Thomas Aquinas, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Blue Valley Southwest on Tuesday. Blue Valley Southwest will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Kansas Rankings (they are ranked 128th, while Saint Thomas Aquinas is ranked 17th).
