Olivia Florek’s only basket in the third quarter appeared to be her biggest of the night.

Once the Pirates began distancing themselves from the Mustangs in the third quarter after St. Mary’s led by just one point at half, Florek’s 3-pointer with nine seconds to go in the third gave the Pirates a 10-point lead and the momentum heading into the final eight minutes.

Pikes Peak region 3A No. 1 St. Mary’s (9-0, 3-0 3A Tri-Peaks) never let up as the lead swelled to 18 in the fourth quarter, and the Pirates defeated longtime rival Manitou (4-5, 1-1) 59-41 Friday night at St. Mary’s.

“It’s a rivalry game and I don’t care what your records are, I don’t care,” longtime St. Mary’s coach Mike Burkett said. “You could be first in league and last in league, and both the teams are going to come out and play hard against each other. It’s one of those games where if you can’t get up for this kind of rivalry, it’s hard to get up.”

Burkett said it was the free throws that the Pirates hit down the stretch that helped St. Mary’s grab the win. The Pirates hit 11 of 16 free throws in the fourth quarter, many of which came when Manitou was forced to foul to stop the clock.

“The final score is not going to be indicative of how close the game really was,” Burkett said.

Both teams started quick, trading baskets and the Mustangs led 12-11 after the first quarter. The Pirates went on a 6-0 run in the second to lead by as much as eight, but back-to-back 3s allowed Manitou to shrink the Pirates’ lead to two. Manitou’s lead scorer, senior Shelby Megyeri, brought the Mustangs to within one after hitting a 3 to end the half with St. Mary’s up 28-27.

Megyeri, who scored a game-high 16 points, has been a source of frustration for the Pirates for four years. She showed why again on Friday night as she worked to bring the Mustangs back, scoring eight of Manitou’s nine fourth quarter points.

“You game plan against Shelby all the time,” Burkett said. “You’re not going to shut Shelby down. The best thing you can do is just kind of contain it and minimize her a little bit and even then there’s no guarantee. She’s just a special player. I’m going to miss her coming into this gym. I hope I don’t ever see her again in this gym, but she’s a wonderful player.”

The Mustangs finished as the 3A runner up after falling to Lutheran in the state championship a season ago. This year has been an adjustment for Manitou after losing former coach Jon Asp to the college ranks and learning a different system with first-year coach Ed Longfield.

“It’s definitely been a big change, but I say it’s transitioned pretty well, and these guys are good coaches,” Megyeri said. “It’s just, I think it’s the team now that needs to figure it out.”

The Pirates, who fell in the second round of state last season, are seeing improvements this year according to Florek, and that has a lot to do with the unselfishness of the players.

Florek finished with 13 points along with teammate Seneca Hackley who also had 13. Josephine Howery added nine for the Pirates and Makenna Bodette scored eight.

“I think we are just really playing as a team; we’re passing the ball, we’re cutting, and we’re really seeing each other,” Florek said. “We’re not selfish at all and we really just work as a team.”