Lili scores in 8th grade win, finish season undefeated

The 8th grade girls capped off an undefeated season Friday night with a 22-3 victory.

This marks the first time a St. Mary's team in the modern St. Mary's Athletics era to have ever finished (8-0) in any sport.

It was another slow start by the girls who trailed at one point 1-0 and 3-2 in the 1st quarter.

But a 6-0 2nd quarter set the tone for a second half where they shut out the other team.

By far, the girls played a much better game than their stinker on Sunday when everything seemed to go wrong. After barely squeaking by 17-9, they needed a much better performance in the season finale, and they did just that.

The game was highlighted by Lili's first basket since game one of the regular season. On a fast break, Jocelyn zipped a nice cross court pass to Lili who anxiously banked in the shot. She then had a quick celebration raising both hands in the air as she trotted back on defense.

All five girls who played scored.

Next up for the girls will be a playoff game against the No. 4 seed in the division. In a five team division, a No. 4 seed is not as dangerous as a team would be in a normal division with 8+ teams, so there should be no reason why the 8th grade can't advance to the championship.

Furthermore, there should be no reason why the girls shouldn't be 1st place champions a little less than a month from now.

Every team in their division they have beaten twice, and aside from last Sunday's meltdown, they've beaten every team by double digits.

After going (2-6) last season, the girls ran the table in 2012.

Only three players returned, but the additions of Lili, Amanda and Sabrina have made them the top dogs in their division.

This team was put together last minute as they had to withdraw from the tournament since they had only four players a day before the tourney was set to begin.

Until this day, they still haven't completely clicked because of the sporadic attendance to practices. It's a very familiar song for girls basketball these days, but they find a way to get it done.

It's upsetting on one hand because this team could be so much better if they would show up to practice. Perhaps being stuck in a bad division lessens the motivation and desire to get better. Nevertheless, the girls should have some pride and go out and win the right way instead of playing not to lose.

The girls will get at least a week's rest before their playoff game. Anything but winning it all will be a letdown.