By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

St. James established an early lead, and West St. John could not recover as the Wildcats rolled to a 67-30 win at home on Thursday night.

Tranell Mitchell scored 13 to lead the Rams (3-2). Kayla Morris added eight.

The St. James (9-5) press gave West St. John a great deal of trouble in the early going – the Rams turned the ball over 10 times in the first two minutes of play.

“We need to be able to do a better job when facing a press,” said West St. John Coach Lester Smith. “We knew that would be our big trouble entering the season.”

St. James outscored West St. John 22-6 in the first quarter and 23-6 in the second to open up a 45-12 halftime advantage, effectively ending any Ram comeback threat.

Smith said that he’ll encourage his team to forget the game and move on, but that the Rams will have to tighten up some things before next Friday, when St. James visits the Rams for a rematch.

“We just need to address the mistakes we made and build off of it,” Smith said.