Villa Duchesne basketball coach Jane Ellen Kuenzle studied the stat sheet from her team's contest against Jefferson City in the semifinals of the Queen of Hearts Tournament Friday night.

The stats told the story as the Saints struggled from both the field (9-of-44) and the free throw line (7-of-16) in a 49-26 loss to top-seeded Jefferson City.

"The math is right there," Kuenzle said. "We were terrible from the line. Those numbers are not acceptable and we didn't shoot it well from the field either. Our shooting has been our Achilles Heel so far this season and I feel that we are getting some pretty good shots. I believe that at some point those shots are going to fall."

They did fall early in the semifinal game as the fourth-seeded Saints scored 10 consecutive points in the early going. Jefferson City led 6-1 early on but Villa Duchesne scored the final eight points of the first quarter, six of them from Beth Nogalski.

Villa also scored the first two points of the second quarter to take an 11-6 lead. The game was tied 14-14 when Jefferson City went on an 8-1 run to end the half as Lauren Coons hit a pair of 3-pointers.

The Jays broke the game open with a 20-point third quarter as they were able to connect on four 3-pointers.

"I think we won the battle of the post tonight," Kuenzle said. "Beth did a real good job against the big girl (Shelby Mustain, who was held to just two points). But they did hurt us from the outside."

Nogalski had six blocked shots in the game in addition to a team-high eight points.

"I was pleased with the energy we brought to the game," Kuenzle said. "You just can't beat a good team when you shoot the way we did tonight and Jeff City is a good team."

The victory was the ninth in a row for the Jays, who were led in scoring by Monique Townson. The freshman point guard scored 17 points.

Villa Duchesne will play in the third place game Saturday at 2 p.m. against the loser of the semifinal game between Kirkwood and Cape Notre Dame.

The winner of that game will play Jefferson City for the Queen of Hearts championship Saturday at 3:30 p.m.