Lutheran South takes control in second half to down St. Pius X in Herculaneum final

"I'm the senior and I feel like she's the one leading me," explained South's top gun Chloe Eggerding. "She's been amazing."

That trend continued Friday.

Pfister turned in a stat-sheet stuffing performance to lead the Lutheran South to a 50-38 win over St. Pius X in the championship game of the 26th annual Herculaneum Red and Black Classic at Robinson Gymnasium in Jefferson County.

Lutheran South (5-1) captured the crown for the third time in the last five seasons.

And did so with an out-of-this-world performance in the second half.

Pfister and Eggerding helped Lutheran South score 26 of the first 34 points over the third and fourth quarters to turn a five-point halftime deficit into a comfortable 45-31 cushion.

The 5-foot-8 inch Pfister recorded her second successive monster performance. She scored 14 points and added nine assists and nine steals.

Plus, she recorded seven rebounds with two blocks and was selected as the MVP of the weeklong, eight-team affair.

"She's one of the best-kept secrets in St. Louis," Lutheran South coach Ben Ealick said. "The thing she does the best is she makes the game easier on her teammates."

Pfister's performance on Friday could be defined by one play. She aggressively dove and picked up loose ball late in the final quarter with the contest already decided.

That hustle exemplifies Lutheran South's hard-scrabble attitude.

"It's a huge life lesson for me having to step up and increase my role," Pfister said. "I just keep telling myself that I've got to keep working hard."

Pfister did that the entire tournament. She had 10 steals and 10 assists in a first-round win over Crystal City and followed that up with 14 points, nine assists and six steals in a 60-24 victory over Pacific in the semifinal round.

Her breakout performances could not have come at a better time.

Lutheran South senior Ellie Buscher will miss the entire season with a torn ACL. Senior Savannah Butterfield has also been slowed by an injury, but is expected to return soon.

"Just knowing that your teammates have your back and knowing that if you make a great assist or a great basket, the entire bench is cheering for me," Pfister said.

Junior Kate Yaeger got the ball rolling in the second half with back-to-back triples in the first 84 seconds. Eggerding, who tallied tallied a game-high 19 points, followed with four more successive 3-pointers in a span of 91 seconds to cap a 15-2 blitz. 

Lutheran South scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to take command 40-28.

"We just challenged the kids in the locker room at half to just not get outworked," Ealick said. "They all listened and stepped up."

Yaeger finished with nine points. Sophomore Anna Wingia, a 6-1 defensive wizard, had 12 rebounds and six blocks. She served as an intimidating force to the smaller St. Pius players all night long.

Lutheran South outscored St. Pius 31-14 in the second half. St. Pius scored the final six points of the game to make the final score more respectable.

"They just came out and buried the (3-pointers) and that kind of put us on our heels," St. Pius coach Aaron Portell said. "Our youth showed up a little bit there. But that's a good team, they just beat us."

St. Pius (7-1) was looking to win its first eight games of the season for the first time since the 2009-2010 group captured its first 15 contests. It built up a 24-19 lead behind a steal and layup from P.J. Krodinger and a basket from freshman Carlei Clubb.

But Lutheran South's explosion in the second half put the contest away.

"We want to win every game, but realistically, you're not going to go unbeaten," Portell said.