Maddie Bertsch scored 12 points, Sarah Dickes added 10 and Xavier's pressure defense helped the Saints beat Jefferson, 53-47, Tuesday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball game at Xavier's Ron Thillen Gymnasium.

Leading the Saints to victory was the factor “we pressured the ball well, made steals after our turnovers, and hit some shots,” Coach Tom Lilly said after the contest.  “At halftime we talked about taking care of the basketball and making better choices."

Xavier scored the first five points of the second half after the teams were tied, 22-22, at halftime.

Free throws were few and far between, particularly in the first half where only three charity tosses were made by both teams together. Hayley Deutmeyer was a bright spot for Xavier in the second half, scoring six of her 10 points at the line and keeping the Saints' lead padded.

Both schools used effective presses full court that seemed to make it difficult to score and get any easy buckets throughout the contest.

Seven J-Hawks figured in the balanced scoring and were led by two seniors, Maddie Koolbeck with 13 points and Taylor Jacobson tossed in 10 points with a nifty 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Jefferson had to foul in the waning moments, but for the most part, the intense defense by both teams baseline to baseline led to many turnovers for both ballclubs and difficulty scoring even when getting the ball in the middle.

Lilly said he is hopeful the Saints will continue to make progress when his post is double teamed and that the remainder of the Saints take more of an advantage of this situation.

After the game he commented on his overall philosophy of playing 10 players throughout the contest and keeping up the constant pressure defensively on the opponent.

“When you play with that type of intensity, people do need a break unless they’re dogging it!”  he said. “We handle it like a sprint race—we pass the baton—and we try to extend what has been done in the minutes leading up to the various substitutions.”

Lilly also gave a huge amount of credit to assistant coach, Dave Sullivan, who keeps track of substitutions and continues to emphasize the defensive intensity.

“We always try to keep three starters on the floor for the most part—ideally, we like to have a strong back-up at all five positions,” Lilly said.

JEFFERSON (47):  Kaitlyn Davidson  3  1-1  7,  Madison Blietz  2  0-0  4,  Kiely Brathwaite  0  0-0  0,  Dani Stromert  0  3-5  3, Taylor Jacobson  4  1-2  10,  Rachel Broghammer  2  0-0  4,  Maddie Koolbeck  5  2-2  13,  Amanda Ollinger  3  0-0  6. Totals  19  7-10  47.

XAVIER (53):  Kayla Armstrong  4  0-2  8,   Morgan Breitbach  4  0-0  8,  Haley Deutmeyer  2  6-9  10, Sarah Dickes  3  1-2  8,  Abby Watson  0  0-2  0,  Maddie Bertsch  5  2-6  12,  Lizzy Bailey  0  0-0  0,  McKenna Andersen  1  0-0  3,  Allison Chorzempa  1  0-0  2,  Ashley Stulken  1  0-0  2.  Totals   21  9-21  53.

Halftime - Jefferson 22, Xavier 22. Fouls - Xavier  12,  Jefferson  21.  Fouled out -  None.   3-point goals -  Jefferson  2 (Jacobson, Koolbeck),  Xavier  2 (Dickes, Andersen).