Staff Photo by Jake Olson: Granada Huntley East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther guard Keira Benck looks to finish through contact during the first half of Tuesday night's contest against Saint James Area at Martin Luther High School.

NORTHROP – The Saint James Area girls’ basketball team used 15 3-pointers and a tenacious defensive effort to run past Granada Huntley East-Chain/Truman/Martin Luther on Tuesday night, 102-53, at Martin Luther High School.

The Saints had five players make 3s, with Journey Swanson drilling 7 outside shots of her own to power a 29-point scoring effort. Reese Malmgren had 18 points on five made field goals, while Kendall Malmgren and Jacey Sodeman had 14 and 12 points, respectively.

“Tonight, I don’t know if they missed more than five 3-pointers, it seemed like it anyway,” GHEC/T/ML head coach TJ Pytleski said. “They are a really good shooting team and move the ball very well.”

Londyn Bowers led all Jaguars with a 23-point and eight-rebound performance. Keira Benck had 10 points to go along with three steals. Addison Nowicki notched seven points on four made free throws.

It was the combination of Bowers, Nowicki and Benck that fueled GHEC/T/ML’s early lead at the 15-minute mark of the first half. A Nowicki 3-pointer was sandwiched in between free throws from the two other seniors, giving way to a 7-3 Jaguar advantage.

“Once we broke the press, we got some easy baskets, or easy looks anyway,” Pytleski said. “I thought we did a good job when we were able to run our half-court offense. I liked what I saw.”

However, SJA used a variety of full- and half-court press looks to confuse the Jaguar guards and force steals in the backcourt. After six straight GHEC/T/ML turnovers, the Saints converted on Isabelle Alphs 3-pointer to go up 19-9.

This prompted a 20-point scoring run from SJA. Leaning on their different pressures and strong half-court defense, the Saints continued to convert on their scoring chances, with Reese Malmgren taking the ball coast-to-coast to cap off the offensive surge with eight minutes in the half.

“We were trying to dribble through that [the press], or throw it over the top,” Pytleski said. “They’ve got [Kendall] Malmgren and [Jacey] Sodeman, and we tried going over the top, which you can’t do.”

SJA closed the rest of the half on a 24-11 scoring run, drilling four more outside shots to go into the break up 63-25.

GHEC/T/ML started the second half making three of its first five shot attempts, with Bowers, Benck and Ava Donohue each converting on easy looks under the basket.

But the SJA offense was unmatched. Layups from Reese Malmgren and Swanson pushed their lead to 74-30, causing Pytleski to burn a timeout with 15:08 left in the contest. Swanson finished her impressive night with two more 3-pointers and a layup that fueled the Saint offense.

The Jagurs (11-9) will play Sleepy Eye Saint Mary’s this Thursday at 7 p.m.