Historical May 1995 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
One of the advantages of being a smoker and fan of St. Roch basketball is that you get to interact with the parents of the other team at half time. Once everyone has found their way to the designated smoking area and lighted up, the small talk begins. Invariably, someone asks where St. Roch parish is.
We always tried to answer with landmarks- “it’s near Wash U” or “north of Forest Park” or “it’s in the SkinkerDeBaliviere neighborhood.” If those failed, we’d ask “do you know where Talayna’s is?” While the seventh grade girls and both the boys and girls teams from the sixth grade had excellent seasons, it was the eighth grade girls basketball team that generated the most curiosity.
The title question was asked in the frozen north of Florissant when they defeated Sacred Heart, the reigning Archdiocesan champions, in the St. Angela Merici tournament.
It was asked in the wild, woolly west of St. Charles county when they won the All Saints tournament against Assumption of O’Fallon, a team that had only lost four games since the fifth grade. And it was asked over and over again in deep south county by the fans of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque when the St. Roch girls braved the introductory spotlights and smoke machines to defeat them in the championships of the St. Simon, St. Michael, and Our Lady of Sorrows tournaments, but, most importantly, the Archdiocesan CityCounty playoffs. Throw in an undefeated league record and excellent performances in several other tournaments and you have a 45-5 won/ lost record. Charlie Spoonhour should do so well. Regular readers of this column will of course remember that the Archdiocesan championship game in 1993, won by this same team, was one of the most exciting sporting events of the late twentieth century. No such luck this year.
The championship game, like so many of their games, had all the drama, suspense and point spread of Nebraska’s annual shellacking of the University of Missouri in football.
The championship was actually decided in the semi-final round when St. Roch met Sacred Heart of Florissant, last year’s champion. St. Roch came from behind and held on for a two point victory, helped in no small part by a clock-killing dribbling exhibition by Beckie Lewis that would have made Meadowlark Lemon proud.
As our neighbor and former Mayor, Vince Schoemehl, is fond of saying, it is important in life to be a part of something bigger than yourself.
These girls now know that.
They set a goal for themselves and with good coaching, determination and teamwork they achieved it.
The people of St. Roch have every reason to be proud of this team, but so does Skinker-DeBaliviere.
Now a lot more people know that we are not only a community of great homes, good leaders and great neighbors but also excellent basketball.
Original photograph caption
CYC City-County Champions The St.Roch Eighth Grade Girls Basketball Team. Front row: Liz Hart-Mahon,Katie Lewis and Taya Seline. Back row: Sara Vanderbeek,Shannon Keaveny,Maureen Bell,Coach Maggie Hart-Mahon,Beckie Lewis,Coach Mike Hart. Photo courtesy of Jorie Lewis,official team photographer and statistician.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, May 1995.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1995_05.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 6.
