Montgomery Catholic and Saint James met for a duel on Wednesday where Montgomery Catholic couldn't get it done. The Montgomery Catholic Knights took a 55-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Saint James Trojans. While losing is never fun, the Knights can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Alabama basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while the Trojans are ranked fourth).
Several Knights players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Hannah Smith, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 13 rebounds. That was a full 46.8% of Montgomery Catholic's points, marking the third time in a row she's had more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Heaven Bailey, who went 6 for 13 en route to 16 points plus five assists and two steals.
Even though they lost, Montgomery Catholic smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in 18 consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Saint James found their leader in sophomore Morgan Lilly, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine assists. Those nine assists gave Lilly a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Natalie Barton, who earned 17 points.
Having lost for the first time this season, Montgomery Catholic fell to 3-1. As for Saint James, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 7-1.
The teams didn't have to wait long for a rematch: Saint James beat Montgomery Catholic by a score of 75-65 on Monday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
