Vandalia Downs Lady Hearts to Clinch Effingham Tournament Championship

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Published on January 22 2015 5:48 pm
Last Updated on January 22 2015 5:48 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

The Vandalia Lady Vandals are the champions of the Effingham Girls Round-Robin Tournament after defeating the Effingham Lady Hearts Thursday, 39-30. The game was heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.

With the victory, Vandalia is 3-0 in the tournament and has already defeated Centralia and Effingham, the only teams that could tie Vandalia if the Lady Vandals lose Friday night. The Vandals would then get the title due to the results of head-to-head competition.

Effingham suffered through a tough shooting night, making just 11 of 42 shots for 26%, including three of 21 from three-point range. The Lady Hearts also made just five of 11 foul shots and got outrebounded 28-26. The Hearts did have just 12 turnovers, one fewer than Vandalia.

Vandalia made 16 of 39 shots for 41%, but made just seven of 17 foul shots. The seven they made, though, came in the fourth quarter to thwart a comeback attempt by the Lady Hearts.

Effingham fell behind by 16 points and closed to within seven before the rally fizzled out. Vandalia led at all the stops; 8-7 after one quarter, 14-12 at halftime, and 28-20 after three quarters.

Maddy Field led the Hearts in points and rebounds, with 14 and nine, respectively. Jantzen Michael scored nine points, Aly Armstrong six, and Sidney Webster one.

Emma Meyer led Vandalia with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Makayla Tinker finished with 14 points, 12 in the third quarter when Vandalia started to put some distance between them and the Lady Hearts.

Effingham is now 12-11 on the season and 2-1 in the tournament, while Vandalia improved to 13-9 on the season.

In the first game Thursday, Greenville blew a big lead, but rebounded to defeat Pana 55-51.

Friday night at EHS, Vandalia will play Pana at 6pm and Effingham will take on Centralia at 7:30pm.