CULLMAN, Ala. — The St. Bernard boys and girls hosted Winston County at home on Thursday night, and they dropped both games as the Lady Saints fell just short against the Lady Yellow Jackets, 45-38, while the Saints dropped a low-scoring affair to the Yellow Jackets, 34-24.
Winston County 45 – St. Bernard 38 (varsity girls)
St. Bernard got off to a very slow start offensively as they only scored on a free throw by Claire Sanders and went into the second period down, 17-1. The Lady Saints increased their offensive output in the second quarter, scoring eight points and allowing just 10 to cut the lead to 27-9 at the half.
St. Bernard doubled their output in the third period as four different players scored in the quarter and they cut the deficit to just 12 at 37-25 going into the final period. Led by Emma Tafazoli, Claudia Fallin and Sanders, the Lady Saints staged a comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 points and cutting the deficit to single digits at 45-38, but that’s the closest that they got and wound up falling 45-38.
Emma Tafazoli led St. Bernard (4-6) with 16 points. Fallin and Sanders each added eight, Amelia Tafazoli ended up with six and Macy Whaley chipped in with one.
Winston County 34 – St. Bernard 24 (varsity boys)
The first quarter was very low scoring as both teams combined for just 13 points in the period. The Saints took a 7-6 lead after one. A three by John Christian Rose, later followed by an Eli Loyd free throw, stretched the St. Bernard lead to 11-6. The Saints’ defense was smothering Winston County as they allowed just one basket in the second period and wound up taking an 11-8 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Back-to-back treys by the Yellow Jackets to start out the third quarter gave them a 14-11 lead. St. Bernard’s Caleb Guthery nailed back-to-back threes to give them the lead right back to the Saints at 17-14 and later made it 19-14 on a Rose layup. Winston County finished the quarter strong with a 7-2 run that tied the game at 21 going into the final period.
The Yellow Jackets scored five in a row as they took the lead once again at 26-21. The Saints’ offense struggled to score and their first point of the quarter came on a Jose Zatarain free throw with 2:18 remaining in the game that cut the lead to 26-22. Winston County pushed its lead to 30-22 and a Rose layup made it 30-24 with 38 seconds remaining in the game, but four free throws sealed the 34-24 win for the Yellow Jackets.
Rose finished with 11 points for St. Bernard (2-8). Guthery added six, Alex Shoaff ended up with five and Zatarain and Loyd each chipped in with one.
St. Bernard will host their annual Christmas Tournament next Thursday and Friday and the girls’ and boys’ teams will take on J.B. Pennington next Thursday at 6:30 and 7:45, respectively.
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