BACK TO DEFEND: St. Albert Girls’ BKB Tops CRB for Regional Championship, 68-48

St. Albert's Molly Wise, Brooklynn Rutledge, & Ava Underwood (2-25-26)

BACK TO DEFEND: St. Albert Girls’ BKB Tops CRB for Regional Championship, 68-48 -

(2-25-26) - The Saintes showed why they’re the defending champs.

With the game tight to start the 4th qtr, St. Albert would go on a 21-4 run to roll over Coon Rapids-Bayard, 68-48, in the Class 1A – Region 3 Championship to punch their ticket back to Girls’ State Basketball tournament.

The Saintes had as much as a 11-pt lead several times in the game, only to see the Crusaders fight their way back. Anna Hart hit a 3-ptr just as the 3rd qtr ended to make the score 47-44 in favor of St. Albert.

But the Saintes defense forced 14 steals in the game, several to start the 4th qtr as they pulled away for good, using run out turnovers to quickly increase their lead.

Ava Underwood, who led the way with 24 pts, credited her teammates with putting into situations that gave good looks at the hoop.

“My teammates were really feeding me the ball in the middle. I mean, I was cutting hard and they were just, giving me pass after pass. So, it's great for them to find those openings and kind of execute those passes and it helps a lot.”

The Saintes Molly Wise hit two big 3-ptrs in the 2nd half as part of her 10-pt night. She knew her team had to up the tempo against a tough Crusaders team.

“We knew we needed energy and defense, and if our shots fell, they fell, and many of my teammates just gave me really good looks.”

The game wasn’t perfect for the Saintes, as they did give up 17 turnovers in the contest to the aggressive press of the Crusaders.

Junior Brooklynn Rutledge added 13 pts and 8 rebounds for St. Albert. Rutledge is hoping to take lesson learned in last season’s championship run to this year’s state tournament.

“It's definitely just a different level of basketball. These girls have definitely helped me reach that level and help with everything that's different about it. So, tempo the game, everything like that.”

The Crusaders got 16 pts from Hart in her final game for Coon Rapids-Bayard, who’s season ends at 19-6.

St. Albert earned the No. 3 seed and will begin their title defense as the 1A Girls’ State Tournament in Des Moines against Exira-EHK on Wednesday.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats