EHS to Play for Charleston Title, St. A in Third Place Game at Mattoon, Neoga Second at Monticello

CHARLESTON -- Effingham High School advanced to the championship game of the Charleston Holiday Girls Basketball Tournament with two victories Tuesday.

The Hearts opened with a 51-37 win over Paris. EHS held a 20-16 first half lead then had a 16-6 third quarter spurt. Marranda Steffen scored 13 to lead the way while Aly Armstrong added 10.

EHS then defeated Danville 55-45. Danville held a 9-2 opening quarter lead and led 18-17 at halftime. The Hearts had a 25-17 third quarter run and finished out strong for the win.

Carsyn Fearday scored 17 for the Hearts while Armstrong added 13 and Shelby Myers 12. Armstrong connected on four three-pointers.

"For as bad as I felt about our play yesterday, to our kids credit they played two great games today," said EHS Coach Jeff Schafer. "They just battled all day and really earned two hard-fought victories. It was just another really good team effort as we had everyone again play big roles, even if it was just in short spurts.

"We did an excellent job on the boards all day. We did a great job of getting touches and getting the ball inside and then worked it back to the shooters and really attacked the basket. It was just a really good team win. We have now given ourselves a chance to play Charleston again for the championship. They are just destroying everyone. They have seven people that can score and will be a really tough opponent. They are ranked seventh or eighth in the state. We will come with our guns loaded and see what happens."

 Charleston Holiday Tournament

Game 10

PARIS (37)

Rigdon 5-0 -- 12, Watson 2-0 -- 5, Lawson 0-1 -- 1, Switzer 0-2 -- 2, Bowman 3-0 -- 6, Brower 4-3 -- 11. TOTALS 14 FG, 6 FT.

EFFINGHAM (51)

Depositer 0-0 -- 0, Fearday 3-2 -- 8, Schafer 0-0 -- 0, PHililps 0-0 -- 0, Armstrong 3-1 -- 10, Steffen 3-6 -- 13, Fox 0-2 -- 2, Webster 0-0 -- 0, Nunamaker 1-0 -- 2, Crowell 1-0 -- 2, Barr 1-1 --3, Myers 5-1 -- 11. TOTALS 17 FG, 13 FT.

Paris                     9    7      6    15    --    37

Effingham          15    5    16    15    --    51

3-point FG -- Paris 3 (Rigdon 2, Watson 1), Effingham 4 (Armstrong 3, Steffen 1).

Game 16

EFFINGHAM (55)

Depoister 0-0 -- 0, Fearday 6-4 -- 17, Schafer 0-0 -- 0, Phillips 0-0 -- 0, Armstrong 4-1 -- 13, Steffen 3-0 -- 6, Fox 1-5 -- 7, Webster 0-0 -- 0, Nunamaker 0-0 -- 0, Crowell 0-0 -- 0, Barr 0-0 -- 0, Myers 3-6 -- 12. TOTALS 17 FG, 16 FT.

DANVILLE (45)

Burton 0-2 -- 2, ,Hoskins 8-0 -- 18, Copper-Watson 1-0 -- 2, Day 1-0 -- 2, Woods 0-1 -- 1, D. Parker 4-0 -- 10, Hall 4-2 -- 10. TOTALS 18 FG, 5  FT.

Effingham           2    15    25    13    --    55

Danville               9      9    17    10    --    45

3-point FG -- Effingham 5 (Armstrong 4, Fearday 1), Danville 4 (D. Parker 2, Hoskins 2).

Mattoon Tournament

Effingham St. Anthony had a tough day, dropping two games after picking up two victories in Monday action.  But the Bulldogs will still play for third place against Vandalia at 6 p.m. today.

St. Anthony lost to Galesburg 59-29 in the fourth game of the day Tuesday. Galesburg stepped out to a 19-4 opening quarter lead and never looked back.

St. Anthony was led by Abby Weis with nine points.

In the Bulldogs second game of the day, they fell to Salem 42-31. St. Anthony held a 10-9 opening quarter lead but the Wildcats pushed ahead 18-14 at halftime then had a 24-17 second half run.

St. Anthony was led by Abbie Schmidt with 12 points.

"We played well, we just had too many turnovers at times when we had opportunities to score inside," said St. Anthony Coach Bart Wiedman. "We must learn to maximize possessions to beat good teams. Overall we had a good tournament by raising our level of play."

In other games Tuesday, Salem beat Decatur MacArthur 68-37, Vandalia won over Olney 78-59, Mattoon downed Sullivan 68-40 and then won over Decatur MacArthur 53-25, Olney beat Sullivan 67-28, Salem downed Decatur MacArthur 68-37 and Galesburg handed Vandalia an 80-44 trouncing.

Mattoon will meet Decatur MacArthur at 4 p.m. for seventh place while Olney takes on Mattoon at 5:30 for fifth place. St. Anthony faces Vandalia and Salem will meet Galesburg at 8:30 for the championship.

 Mattoon Tournament

Game 12

GALESBURG (59)

Boydstun 1-4 -- 6, Ky. Townsell 0-2 -- 2, Gully 6-0 -- 13, Ka. Townsell 5-0 -- 11, Lingafelter 0-0 -- 0, Daniels 4-0 -- 12, Chockley 0-0 -- 0, Sampson 1-0 -- 2, Milroy 0-0 -- 0, Junk 0-0 -- 0, Cruz 0-0 -- 0, Huppenbauer 0-0 -- 0, Meinert 2-0 -- 4, Florine 2-4 -- 8. TOTALS 21 FG, 10  FT.

ST. ANTHONY (29)

Burton 0-2 -- 2, Schmidt 1-0 -- 2, M. Richards 0-0 -- 0, Weis 2-4 -- 9, McDevitt 1-0 -- 2, McHugh 0-0 -- 0, Brown 1-0 -- 3, Horn 0-0 -- 0, Clausius 0-0 -- 0, Schuette 3-0 -- 8. E. Richards 0-0 -- 0, Niebrugge 1-1 -- 3, McGuire 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 9 FG, 7 FT.

Galesburg          19    13    17    10    --    59

St. Anthony         4    12       8      5    --    29

3-point FG -- Galesburg 7 (Daniels 4, Boydstun 2, Ka. Townsell 1), St. Anthony 4 (Schuette 2, Weis 1, Brown 1).

Game 14

SALEM (42)

Gerrin 0-0 -- 0, Hood 2-2 -- 7, Gregg 1-4 -- 6, Maxey 0-0 -- 0, Meadows 0-0 -- 0, Marshall 0-0 -- 0, Barr 2-1 -- 5, Watson 7-0 -- 14, Sager 4-1 -- 10. TOTALS 16 FG, 8 FT.

ST. ANTHONY (31)

Burton 0-0 -- 0, Schmidt 5-2 -- 12, Richards 0-0 -- 0, Weis 1-4 -- 7, McDevitt 0-0 -- 0, McHugh 0-0 -- 0, Brown 1-0 -- 2, Horn 0-0 -- 0, Schuette 0-0 -- 0, Richards 1-0 -- 2, Niebrugge 4-0 -- 8. TOTALS 12 FG, 6  FT.

Salem                       9    9    11    13    --    42

St. Anthony           10    4      7    10    --    31

3-point FG -- Salem 2 (Hood 1, Sager 1), St. Anthony 1 (Weis 1).

Monticello Holiday Tournament

Neoga dropped the championship game to Tuscola 65-53 in the Monticello Holiday Tournament Tuesday evening.

The Indians fell behind 17-9 after the opening quarter but came back with an 18-13 second period to trail just 30-27 at halftime. However, Tuscola had a 19-11 third period surge.

Neoga was led by EC Thies with 22 points and Jaycie Roy with 18. Neoga had seven three-pointers, four by Thies and three by Roy.

The third place game went to Monticello over Mount Zion 48-24.

Monticello Holiday Tournament

Championship Game

NEOGA (53)

Thies 7-4 -- 22, Hotze 0-0 -- 0, Potter 0-2 -- 2, Roy 6-3 -- 18, Banning 3-2 -- 8, Ewing 1-2 -- 3, Morrison 0-0 -- 0, Dryden 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 17 FG, 12 FT.

TUSCOLA (65)

Bates 2-0 -- 4, Clark 0-0 -- 0, Koester 0-0 -- 0, Meinhold 4-1 -- 10, Kaufman 3-3 -- 9, Hale 0-0 -- 0, McCrory 12-7 -- 36, Stewart 0-0 -- 0, Russo 1-3 -- 5. TOTALS 22 FG, 14  FT.

Neoga                 9    18    11    15    --    53

Tuscola            17     13    19    16    --    65

3-point FG -- Neoga 7 (Thies 4, Roy 3), Tuscola 6 (McCrory 5, Meinhold 1).