The St. James High School girls’ basketball team is back at full speed, and that’s bad news for the rest of the Four Rivers Conference.

Junior guard Rachel Connell returned to the Lady Tiger lineup in a big way on Monday, helping St. James knock off state-ranked St. Clair 48-34 in league action.

St. James improves to 12-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference. St. Clair, ranked No. 4 in the latest Missouri Class 4 state poll, falls to 13-2 and 1-2.

Connell missed the past several games while recovering from toe surgery. She returned on Monday with a game-high 20 points along with five assists and three steals.

The Lady Tiger defense swarmed the usually high-scoring Lady Bulldogs. St. James outscored St. Clair 14-10 in the first period and went into halftime up 30-21.

In the third period St. James went into a delay game for much of the way and took a 39-29 edge into the fourth quarter. St. Clair managed just five points in the final period.

Kayla Walters, a 5-9 junior, had 14 points and six rebounds for St. James.

Junior guard Drew Kamper led St. Clair with 13 points.

The Lady Tiger junior varsity team improved to 11-0 by whipping St. Clair 36-25. Amanda White tallied 15 points for the St. James jayvee team.

St. James is scheduled to host Newburg Thursday in non-league action, with the jayvee game starting at 6 p.m. and the varsity contest to follow.

The individual scoring:
St. James (48): Connell 7-5-20, Walters 7-0-14, Harris-Conway 1-2-4, Stowers 2-0-4, Bowen 1-0-2, Hoener 1-0-2, Marshall 0-2-2, Totals 19-9-48.
St. Clair (34): Kamper 5-2-13, Pursley 2-6-11, Pierce 2-4-8, Anderson 1-0-2, Totals 10-12-34.