Louisville Girls Teach Bell-Jeff a Lesson With Easy 81-38 Win

Bell-Jeff girls basketball Coach Jim Couch said he had a theory entering Tuesday night’s game with Louisville.

“We’re going to play man-on-man the entire game,” he said. “I want my players to learn something out there tonight.”

Louisville’s girls proved to be good teachers as they rolled to an 81-38 victory in the first Santa Fe League game for both schools.

Overcoming a shaky first quarter, the Royals scored 29 points in the second to post a 48-20 lead by halftime.

Louisville guard Barbara Terhar had five assists in the period, while teammate Andrea Knapp scored 10.

“We were flat from the start,” said Louisville Coach Brian O’Hara, whose team was coming off its second two-week layoff of the season.

The second half provided more lessons for Bell-Jeff. Guard Lynn Flanagan sparked Louisville with five assists in the third quarter. Knapp, her principal beneficiary, scored 10 of her 30 points points in the quarter as the Royals took a 64-23 lead into the final period.

Louisville, which has slipped from No. 4 to No. 10 in the Cal-Hi Sports ranking of the state’s girls basketball teams, travel to St. Genevieve on Thursday night.

O’Hara said he thinks the decline in ranking has motivated his team.

“We scheduled a lot of strong teams for our non league games,” he said. “I don’t feel that being unbeaten through December proves anything if you haven’t played good teams.”