EHS Girls Season Comes to End in Regional

SALEM -- Effingham High School's season came to a close in the Class 3A Salem Girls Basketball Regional Tuesday evening.

The Hearts trailed Bethalto Civic Memorial 16-11 after the opening quarter and 33-16 at halftime. EHS had a slight 26-25 second half edge but it wasn't enough.

"This was a tough loss for us," said EHS Coach Jeff Schafer. "In a big game you have to shoot it better. Shooting 10 of 44 from two point range and 6 of 18 from the free throw line against a really good team is not going to get it done. They did a nice job of getting the ball inside and we didn't rotate very well for really the first time all season."

Effingham was led by Carsyn Fearday with 17 points while Marranda Steffen added 11.

"Our girls had a great season winning 20 times playing in the Apollo Conference is a huge accomplishment," said Schafer. "We finished second in every tournament we played in and never lost more than two games in a row.  So while we seemed inconsistent at times we actually were not.

"Our free throw shooting finally did us in leaving a lot of free points out there tonight. I am really proud of these girls, especially the seniors for being there and making our younger kids feel like they were a big part of our success, Taylor Crowell, Marranda Steffen, Shayna Phillips, and Shelby Nunamaker have done a great job for us and their class won 87 games in the four years they were in school.  We will miss them and wish them the best of luck and we are fortunate to return a very good nucleus of players."

The Hearts ended the season with a 20-11 record.

Bethalto Civic Memorial advances to face host Salem at 7 p.m. Thursday for the regional championship. Salem defeated Mount Vernon 50-32 in the opening contest Tuesday.

Class 3A Salem Regional

EFFINGHAM (42)

Depoister 0-0 -- 0, Fearday 6-2 -- 17, Schafer 0-0 -- 0, Phillips 0-0 -- 0, Armstrong 1-0 -- 3, Steffen 4-1 -- 11, Fox 1-1 -- 3, Webster 0-0 -- 0, Crowell 0-0 -- 0, Barr 0-0 -- 0, Myers 3-2 -- 8, Carie 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 15 FG, 6 FT.

BETHALTO CIVIC MEMORIAL (58)

Coffman 3-0 -- 8, Troeckler 10-7 -- 27, Eaton 0-2 -- 2, Tyrus 3-0 -- 7, Turbyfill 2-5 -- 9, Troxel 1-0 -- 2, Pfeiffer 0-3 -- 3. TOTALS 19 FG, 17 FT.

Effingham                   11     5     16     10    --    42

Civic Memorial           16    17    14    11    --    58

3-point FG -- Effingham 6 (Fearday 3, Steffen 2, Armstrong 1), Bethalto Civic Memorial 3 (Coffman 2, Tyus 1).