Villa Beats Burroughs 40-21 Despite Lackluster Performance

Sometimes teams don’t play well,  but win easily. That might be the apt description for the 40-21 Villa Duchesne win over host John Burroughs Tuesday night. The Saints scored a meager 13 second-half points but led from wire to wire.

In fact, the Burroughs scoreboard is totally dark until some points are scored. The Bombers did not score until 2:40 seconds were left in the first quarter.

It seemed at times Villa coach Jane Ellen Kuenzel was watching a Rocky Horror picture show. Her skilled Saints melted down to the gang who could hardly shoot straight in the last 16 minutes of the game. Whatever they seemed to shoot in the second half would not go in.

The only scoring for Villa in the third quarter came on a pair of three-pointers from Holly Marx and Alex Roth. Burroughs, featuring a bunch of inexperienced players outscored Villa 7-6 in that third quarter.

“We played OK tonight,” said junior guard Roth who led all scorers with 11 points. “I’m proud of my teammates. We had to rally several times.”

It seems as if Villa was just distracted. Roth reports her teammates were taking lots of tests last week and had other things on their minds.

Looking forward, the Saints will have their hands full in the annual Villa Queen of Hearts Tournament, Thursday through Saturday in their gym. The top seeds, Kirkwood, Jeff City play big time schedules, along with Cape Girardeau Notre Dame.

“Tomorrow, we’ll just get back to work,” Kuenzel told her team, moments after winning.

Having not yet reviewed the stat sheets, Kuenzel had the game pretty much assessed. “You have to give Martha (Fischer) Burroughs coach a lot of credit they were well prepared. We gave up way too many layups and rebounds, They scored a lot of easy points over the back side of our press,” said Kuenzel.

“I thought Alex (Roth) played a nice game. And what can you say about our captain Hanna Benben. If there’s  a loose ball on the floor, you can be sure Hanna will be fighting for it.”

“This game was tough. Burroughs challenged us,” said Kuenzel.

Other scoring went to Lauren Nickson, nine points and Kateleya Frost, eight. Rahny Longley, junior guard led Burroughs with eight points.

Villa is 11-4. Burroughs is 6-6.