GLEN CARBON – The Father McGivney Griffins hosted the Althoff Crusaders Monday night in a pivotal Gateway Metro Conference matchup.
After a game that had no rhythm due to both teams getting in foul trouble, McGivney gutted out a 46-30 win, improving to 11-7 on the season and 6-2 in the GMC.
It was Althoff’s first conference loss as it fell to 4-1 in the GMC and 6-11 on the season. The Crusaders opened the season with a 6-5 record and have since lost six straight.
The Griffins opened Monday’s game on a 4-1 run thanks to a basket from Devin Ellis and one free throw each from Alexa Jones and Izzie Venarsky. However, Althoff closed the quarter on a 12-2 run to take a 13-6 lead.
Riley Fairbairn scored eight of those points. She started with a four-point play, converting the extra-point free throw after being fouled on a three-point shot. She took another trip to the line and made one of two free throws before sinking another triple right before the buzzer.
To open the second quarter, Jones scored followed by two foul shots from Althoff’s Molly Distler, and a triple from Ellis to make the score 15-11 Althoff with just under five minutes to go in the first half.
Coming out of a 30-second timeout, the Griffins would close the half on a 12-2 run to take a 23-17 halftime lead.
“We just want the girls to be aggressive at the beginning,” Griffins’ head coach Jeff Oller said. “I think it was paying dividends. We were getting to the line, just weren’t putting them in in the first half. We did a better job in the second. Executed a lot better than the first time we played them.”
The Griffins went 11-for-23 from the foul line in the first half, converting at a 48 percent rate. They improved in the second half going 8-for-12 from the line, 19-for-35 overall from free throws.
There were 41 fouls called by Monday’s officials, 26 of which were against the Crusaders.
Althoff made a game of it to begin the second half. It opened on a 9-1 run to take the lead at 25-24. From there though McGivney would close the third quarter on a 10-1 tilt to regain the lead at 34-27.
The Griffins then outscored Althoff 12-3 in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
“I think the defense stayed pretty consistent throughout,” Oller said. “We made our little run and were able to hold on at the end which was good.”
“Proud of the girls, dropped the first one over [at Althoff], to come back and get one here is pretty nice,” Oller said.
The Griffins lost an earlier meeting against Althoff 41-33 in Belleville on Dec. 5.
Ellis led the Griffins on Monday with 12 points. Layla Tobin chipped in 10 points and Venarsky ended up with nine, seven of which came from the foul line. Peyton Ellis got six points, Emerson McGaughey had five, and Jones had four.
Althoff’s leading scorer Kamora Davis, who came into Monday’s game averaging 11 points per game, was held to eight. Fairbairn finished with eight points as well, all of which came in the first quarter. Gabby Dalke and Distler finished with five points each and Reece Distler had four.
The Griffins are now 6-2 in the conference and only have two GMC games remaining on the road at Christ Our Rock and Metro-East Lutheran. McGivney will play next in its home gym on Wednesday against Carlyle who is ranked No. 7 in IHSA Class 2A in the latest state poll.
Althoff controls its destiny in the conference with five games remaining. The Crusaders host Christ Our Rock on Wednesday and then play Marquette Catholic on Friday.
