Guards capture another title

"Regardless of where we play, we just have to come out and play Bell-Jeff basketball and stay together as a team," she said. "We were just able to execute our game plan in the second half and we were able to come away with a win."

It was a tight contest in the first half with Bell-Jeff trying to contain 6-foot-3 junior Kendall Cooper. Bell-Jeff senior Averie Guzman played tough defense against Cooper, who finished the night with 14 points.

In a defensive struggle, the Guards trailed, 9-7, after the first quarter.

"We had a tremendously slow start," Bell-Jeff Coach Jaclyn Johnson said. "It started out as a low-scoring game and our defense was giving us what we wanted, we just couldn't put the ball in the basket."

The teams continued to struggle to find their offense in the second quarter, although the Guards seemed to wake up out of their funk, outscoring St. Anthony, 16-9, in the stanza to take a 23-17 lead into halftime.

"I knew we were going to get better offensively in the second half," Johnson said. "I think Jasmine was thinking about her shots too much in the first half and in the second half she just came out and did what Jasmine does, and that made the difference."

Bell-Jeff increased its advantage to 32-24 after three quarters.

"At halftime we just all got together and we said that we want this league title and we are going to have to go out and get it," Smith said. "And in the second half we played a lot better and we started coming together."

The Saints could only get as close as seven points in the fourth.

With one more regular season game remaining, the Guards are also looking forward to the playoffs.

"After that game on Thursday, then we go right into the playoffs," Smith said. "We're all looking forward to see what we can do in the playoffs."