KAISER, Mo. - The Fatima Lady Comets knocked off the No. 1 team in the state.
Second-seeded Fatima upset Class 3 No. 1 and top-seeded St. James 66-54 in the Class 3 District 9 Tournament championship Friday night.
"We feel pretty good," Fatima head coach Dustin Hays said. "We know we can win, everybody knows we can win. We have to all believe we can win. All girls all bought into that. To go out there and see them do it, it's a great feeling. It's why we put in all the hours and the hard work. To see it come to fruition is just exciting."
The title not only marks the Lady Comets' first district championship since 2007, it put the rest of Class 3 on notice after knocking off the state championship favorite.
"Our girls I think can play with anybody in the state," Hays said. "I think you've seen that and people around basketball have seen that. I think we've been flying under the radar a little bit this year. We've really started to play better in the last month or two. I think people will start realizing that Fatima girls basketball is good basketball and our girls are working hard getting the job done."
Fatima (22-5) advances to take on District 10 winner Licking (25-2) in the sectional round at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Missouri S&T in Rolla. St. James ends the season at 24-3.
"They were ecstatic in the locker room," Hays said of the Lady Comets. "We also realize we just beat the No. 1 team in the state. That shows us that we can keep going. When we talked after the Hermann game (a 45-38 loss in late January at Mizzou Arena), I said it was our goal all along to play there, get a feel for it and hopefully get back to that spot. ... People thought we were crazy, but we're two games away."
The Final Four is played later this month at Mizzou Arena.
Fatima led 16-11 after one quarter before St. James responded to take a 24-23 advantage into halftime. The Lady Comets used a 21-13 advantage in the third quarter to hold a 44-37 lead entering the final period.
Morgan Brandt paced the Lady Comets with 21 points, while Annie Bock chipped in with 14.
"I don't know much about (Licking) to be honest with you," Hays said. "I know they were very young last year and have a lot of returning players. It will be a fact-finding mission in the next couple days."