LADUE – It has been a season of winning for the John Burroughs girls basketball team, and cloaked within their outstanding record is a series of learning moments.
One such moment occurred Wednesday, when a poor offensive performance did not negatively impact other aspects of their game.
“Our offense wasn’t really working, so we had to pick it up somewhere else,” junior Breaunna Ward said.
Ward and sophomore Moriyah Douglass pounded the offensive glass and senior Alice Crowley collected six steals as the Bombers defeated Lutheran St. Charles 43-30 in a battle between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in Class 5 at John Burroughs School.
Lutheran St. Charles (17-4), the reigning Class 5 state champion, played without two starters due to illness – senior point guard Ally Auringer and junior Jordan Speiser, who ranks third in the area in scoring average at 23.0 points per game.
The Cougars received excellent minutes from freshmen Addy Cooley and Hadleigh Todd, who combined to score 15 of the 30 points for Lutheran St. Charles.
“They played tremendous. What a great opportunity for two freshmen to step up in such a big game against such a quality opponent,” Lutheran St. Charles coach Erin Luttschwager said. “They are definitely going to benefit from that, and it’s going to make us better in the long run.”
John Burroughs (21-2), the Class 4 state champion in 2022, won despite scoring its lowest point total of the season. Trailing 14-11 early in the second quarter, the Bombers cranked up their defensive intensity and became relentless on the offensive glass.
Ward dove for a loose ball in the backcourt and fed senior Monet Witherspoon for a breakaway layup to start the Burroughs’ surge. Ward and Crowley crashed the offensive glass to create second-chance opportunities that Douglass converted into points.
When Crowley stepped into a passing lane and set up freshman Sydney Lanton for a three-pointer, John Burroughs completed a 13-0 run to build a double-digit lead.
“The biggest thing we talked about was effort, and that we should never need to discuss effort and hard work,” John Burroughs coach Jacob Yorg said. “In that stretch, we had people diving on the floor, we had people getting rebounds. The choices we were making during that run were good.”
It was a lesson learned the hard way for the Bombers. During a 46-35 state quarterfinal loss to Cape Notre Dame last season, the offense sputtered, and the lack of success on one end of the court impacted other aspects of their game.
“We still remember that Cape Notre Dame game where we played bad offensively and we couldn’t get past it,” Yorg said.
On Wednesday, Gonzaga commit Allie Turner scored eight points on 2-for-9 shooting. Third leading scorer Monet Witherspoon was held to seven points, and the normally sharp-shooting Bombers struggled to score through the normal flow of their offense.
“It was clear that some things weren’t working right offensively,” Crowley said. “We knew as a team we had to step up on doing other things, like rebounding or being super-aggressive on defense.”
With Ward playing denial defense against Lutheran sophomore guard Kyrii Franklin, and Crowley lurking in passing lanes, the Bombers’ created turnovers and held the Cougars to five points over a 12-minute span.
“I thought our half-court offense was good, but when you give up offensive rebounds and live ball turnovers, they are great scorers and they capitalized on those,” Luttschwager said.
John Burroughs led 36-21 after three quarters before Lutheran St. Charles made a spurt of its own. Cooley connected for her third triple of the game, and Todd completed a strong drive to the basket as the Cougars sliced the deficit to 10 points.
“I was happy the way those young kids stepped up. They played really hard, they understood their assignments and they did exactly what we needed them to do,” Luttschwager said.
But it was an ability to find success despite an out-of-rhythm offense that ultimately led the Bombers to victory. Douglass led the way with 11 points and Crowley added nine points, eight rebounds and six steals.
“I think it just shows the depth of our team. We have some super-important players who are constantly good, but if they have an off day, we’re able to step up and do what they weren’t able to do,” Crowley said.
She added, “Remembering last year, that’s what fuels us to keep working hard and keep winning, so we can advance further than we did last season.”