EHS Girls Finish Second at Charleston, St. A Fourth at Mattoon

Effingham placed second in the Charleston Holiday Tournament.

CHARLESTON -- Charleston High School took revenge on Effingham as the Trojans beat the Hearts 65-52 for the championship of the Charleston Holiday Girls Basketball Tournament Wednesday evening.

Last year Effingham claimed the championship over the Trojans. But this time around, Charleston stepped out to a 16-7 opening quarter lead that pushed the Hearts into a well they couldn't climb out of.

"The kids did a great job today and played a great game," said EHS Coach Jeff Schafer. "But our lapse at the end of the first quarter hurt us. Not getting the last shot and allowing them 13 free throws in the first half."

The Trojans connected on their first 20 free throws and finished with 25 of 28 at the line.

The Hearts did make a game of it though. EHS brought the score under double digits several times in the third quarter but couldn't overcome that first period run by Charleston.

"We battled back and got within striking distance a couple of times but, to Charleston's credit, they made a couple tough shots and wouldn't let us back in it."

Three players finished in double figures for the Trojans who improve to a perfect 16-0 on the season. Morgan Sherwood led the way with 20 points and was named the tournament MVP. Paige Swango added 19 and Aislinn Parish tallied 11.

Effingham was led by Carsyn Fearday with 22 points and Marranda Steffen with 10. Fearday was named to the All-Tournament team.

"Charleston is very good," said Schafer. "I think that is as close as anyone has played them. We just have to keep improving every day and clean up a few things and we can become a very good team."

The Hearts are now 10-4 on the season.

In the third place contest, Danville defeated Paris 51-40. Charleston JV won fifth place over Decatur Eisenhower. The seventh place contest went to Urbana over Rantoul 59-50.

Charleston Holiday Tournament

Championship Game

CHARLESTON (65)

Crowder 1-5 -- 7, Parrish 3-5 -- 11, Rennels 2-2 -- 6, Swango 5-6 -- 19, Odell 1-0 -- 2, Sherwood 6-7 -- 20. TOTALS 18 FG, 25 FT.

EFFINGHAM (52)

Fearday 6-8 -- 22, Philips 0-0 -- 0, Armstrong 1-1 -- 4, Steffen 3-4 -- 10, Fox 0-2 -- 2, Webster 3-0 -- 6, Nunamaker 0-0 -- 0, Crowell 0-0 -- 0, Barr 0-0 -- 0, Myers 3-2 -- 8. TOTALS 16 FG, 17 FT.

Charleston           16    20    16    13    --    65

Effingham             7    16    18    11    --    52

3-point FG -- Charleston 4 (Swango 3, Sherwood 1), Effingham 3 (Fearday 2, Armstrong 1).

Mattoon Tournament

Effingham St. Anthony finished fourth in the Mattoon Girls Holiday Tournament Wednesday evening.

The Bulldogs fell to Vandalia 50-41 in the third place contest. The Vandals stepped out to a 13-2 opening quarter lead on the Bulldogs. Bright nailed two baskets, including a three-pointer for the Vandals. The lone basket for the Bulldogs came from senior Abby Brown.

Vandalia held a 31-11 halftime lead.

"We came out a little slow and missed a lot of wide open shots in the first quarter," said St. Anthony Coach Bart Wiedman. "And then that steamrolled into poor defense in the second quarter."

But the Bulldogs mounted a rally in the second half. Abbie Schmidt scored six points to lead the way in the third quarter 11-7 run to pull back within 38-22.

Then in the final quarter, the Bulldogs had a 19-12 run but couldn't make up that first half deficit. Abby Weis, a 5-foot-5 sophomore, connected in three trifectas and was two of two at the line for 11 points. She finished with 16 points to lead the way.

Emma Richards chipped in with seven points.

"We were down 20 at half and stormed all the way back to cut it to six points with 58 seconds left and we just didn't get the opportunity we needed," said Wiedman.

The championship of the tournament went to Galesburg over Salem 62-57 in overtime. Mattoon claimed the fifth place game with a 60-54 win over Olney. Sullivan edged Decatur MacArthur 29-25 for seventh place.

Raina Gully of Galesburg was named the tournament MVP. St. Anthony's Abby Weis was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Mattoon Tournament

ST. ANTHONY (41)

Burton 1-0 -- 2, Schmidt 2-2 -- 6, Weis 5-3 -- 16,  McDevitt 1-0 -- 3, Brown 2-1 -- 5, Clausius 0-0 -- 0, Schuette 1-0 -- 2,  E. Richards 2-3 -- 7, Niebrugge 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 14 FG, 9 FT.

VANDALIA (50)

Miller 0-0 -- 0,  Klanke 1-0 -- 3, Marquardt 1-2 -- 4, Bright 2-1 -- 6, Francis 5-2 -- 12, Hosick 3-5 -- 11, Tinker 3-7 -- 14. TOTALS 15 FG, 17 FT.

St. Anthony           2     9    11    19    --    41

Vandalia              13    18     7    12    --    50

3-point FG -- St. Anthony 4 (Weis 3, McDevitt 1), Vandalia 3 (Klanke 1, Bright 1, Tinker 1).