Hearts Lose On Last Second Shot, NTC, LIC Roundups

A last second three-pointer spelled doom for Effingham as the Hearts dropped a 49-48 decision to Centralia Thursday evening in the 15th Annual Effingham Girls Round Robin Basketball Tournament.

Playing without leading scorer Carsyn Fearday, who was injured Wednesday evening, the Hearts edged out to an 8-7 opening quarter lead. Centralia came back with a 10-5 run to lead 17-13 at halftime.

But the Hearts rallied with a 23-15 third quarter to lead 36-32. Miranda Fox went on a tear scoring a three-pointer, a regular basket and was eight of eight at the free throw line for 13 points. Shelby Myers chipped in with five points and Aly Armstrong connected on a three-pointer.

But the Orphan Annies came back in the final period with a 17-12 run. The Hearts held a 48-46 lead with only seconds remaining with Wood rose up to connect on a three-pointer to pull out the victory.

The Hearts were led by Fox with 17 and Myers with 12.

In the other contest Thursday evening, Vandalia beat Pana 47-36.

The tournament comes to a close tonight as Greenville faces Centralia at 6 followed by Effingham taking on Pana at 7:30.

Effingham, Centralia and Greenville are all 2-1 while Pana is 1-2 and Vandalia finishes at 1-3.

Effingham Tournament

EFFINGHAM (48)

Schafer 1-0 -- 3, Carie 1-0 -- 2, Armstrong 3-0 -- 9, Fox 2-12 -- 17, Webster 1-0 -- 2, Barr 1-1 -- 3, Myers 5-2 -- 12. TOTALS 14 FG, 16 FT.

CENTRALIA (49)

Knolhoff 0-0 -- 0, Sligar 1-0 -- 3, Wood 2-1 -- 6, Nossett 5-2 -- 16, N. Maines 1-4 -- 6, L. Maines 2-2 -- 6, Griggs 5-2 -- 12. TOTALS 16 FG, 11 FT.

Effingham            8      5    23    12    --    48

Centralia              7    10    15    17    --    49

3-point FG -- Effingham 4 (Armstrong 3, Fox 1), Centralia 6 (Nossett 4, Wood 1, Sligar 1).

National Trail Conference Tournament

Altamont moved into the championship game of the National Trail Conference Girls Basketball Tournament with a 68-56 win over Neoga Thursday evening.

Altamont edged out to a 16-13 opening quarter lead and pushed that to 31-26 at halftime. Altamont then had a big scoring third quarter with a 25-13 run.

Four players hit double figures in even scoring for Altamont. Keidron Duckwitz tallied 13 points while Shelby Stone, Tinley Mette and Leah Mayhaus tallied 10 points each. Carly McHugh chipped in with nine.

Neoga was led by Jaycie Roy with 17, Ashley Dryden with 16 and Mary Hill with 10.

Altamont will now take on Effingham St. Anthony at 7 p.m. Saturday for the championship. Neoga drops into the third place game against Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg at 5:30 p.m.

In the opening game Thursday evening, North Clay (Louisville) edged Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City 48-46.

The Cardinals held a 15-11 opening quarter lead and led 29-23 at halftime. CHBC came back with a 14-4 third quarter run to take a 37-33 lead going into the final period.

In the final quarter, North Clay got back on track and outscored CHBC 15-9 to pull out the two point victory. The Cardinals were led by Maddie Craig with 17 and Taylor Jones with 15.

CHBC was led by Kylee Wheeler with 19 points. Jaelyn Robertson and Lauren Wojcik tallied nine each.

North Clay advances to face South Central at 4 p.m. Saturday for the consolation championship. CHBC drops into the seventh-place game with Brownstown/St. Elmo at 2:30 p.m.

National Trail Conference Tournament

 Game Nine

NORTH CLAY (48)

Kessler 1-2 -- 4, Harmon 1-2 -- 4, Fender 1-3 -- 5, Fleener 1-1 -- 3, Coble 0-0 -- 0, Jones 4-6 -- 15, Craig 7-3 -- 17. TOTALS 15 FG, 17 FT.

CHBC (46)

Robertson 3-1 -- 9, Wheeler 0-1 -- 1, Persinger 3-0 -- 6, Johnson 2-3 -- 8, Oldham 2-2 -- 6, Wojcik 4-1 -- 9, Endsley 3-1 -- 7. TOTALS 17 FG, 9 FT.

North Clay            15    14      4    15    --    48

CHBC                    11    12    14      9    --    46

3-point FG -- North Clay 1 (Jones 1), Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City 3 (Robertson 2, Johnson 1).

Game 10

NEOGA (56)

Ewing 3-1 -- 7, Titus 1-0 -- 2, Roy 6-5 -- 17, Banning 1-2 -- 4, Hill 5-0 -- 10, Partlow 0-0 -- 0, Dryden 8-0 -- 16. TOTALS 24 FG, 5 FT.

ALTAMONT (68)

Stone 5-0 -- 10, Duckwitz 4-2 -- 13, Grimsley 2-0 -- 4, McHugh 3-0 -- 9, Mette 1-8 -- 10, Goeckner 3-0 -- 6, Hossick 3-0 -- 6, Mayhaus 3-4 -- 10. TOTALS 24 FG, 14 FT.

Neoga                13    13    13     17    --    56

Altamont           16    15     25    12    --    68

3-point FG -- Neoga 3 (Roy 3), Altamont 6 (Duckwitz 3, McHugh 3).

Little Illini Conference Tournament

Newton High School captured third place in the Little Illini Conference Girls Basketball Tournament Thursday evening.

The Eagles trailed Olney 13-8 after the opening quarter but took a 20-17 halftime lead. The Tigers pulled within 29-27 going into the final quarter but Newton got tough and had a 14-7 run for the 43-34 victory.

Grace Hartrich tallied 16 points while Abby Frohning chipped in with 13 for the Eagles. Newton improves to 17-6 on the season.

In the championship contest, Marshall downed Paris 43-37. Flora won the consolation championship by beating Lawrenceville 46-37.

Little Illini Conference Tournament

OLNEY (34)

Luna 5-2 -- 14, Hough 2-0 -- 6, Mower 3-0 -- 6, LeCrone 1-2 -- 4, Doll 1-0 -- 2, Eagleson 1-0 -- 2. TOTALS 13 FG, 4 FT.

NEWTON (43)

Hartrich 6-4 -- 16, Frohning 5-4 -- 13, Richards 2-3 -- 7, Cohorst 3-0 -- 6, Shipman 0-1 -- 1. TOTALS 15 FG, 12 FT.

Olney             13      4    10       7    --    34

Newton           8     12      9    14    --    43

3-point FG -- Olney 4 (Luna 2, Hough 2), Newton 1 (Frohning 1).

Little Okaw Valley Conference Tournament

Cumberland fell to Oblong 58-18 in the Little Okaw Valley Conference Southeast Tournament Thursday.

Oblong took a 21-0 opening quarter lead and never looked back.

Cumberland was led by Kendra Boswell with five points.

LOVC SE Tournament

OBLONG (58)

Kemp 4-0 -- 11, Johnson 4-0 -- 10, Cheek 4-0 -- 9, Laino 4-0 -- 8, Mendenhall 3-0 -- 6, Sum. Johnson 2-0 -- 5, Shipman 1-0 -- 2, Shew 1-0 -- 2, McIntosh 0-0 -- 0, Neeley 0-0 -- 0, Dart 1-0 -- 3. TOTALS 25 FG, 1 FT.

CUMBERLAND (18)

Boswell 2-0 -- 5, Williams 2-0 -- 4, Dunaway 1-1 -- 3, Sowers 1-0 -- 3, Brumleve 1-0 -- 3, Marti 0-0 -- 0, Hule 0-0 -- 0, Feise 0-0 -- 0, Ervin 0-0 -- 0, Oakley 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 7 FG, 1 FT.

Oblong                 21    14    19    4    --    58

Cumberland           0      4    12    2    --    18

3-point FG -- Oblong 7 (Kemp 3, Sam. Johnson 2, Sum. Johnson 1, Dart 1), Cumberland 3 (Brumleve 1, Sowers 1, Boswell 1).

Highland Tournament

Three games were contested in the Scott Credit Union Highland Girls Basketball Tournament Thursday evening.

Hillsboro defeated Salem 64-32, Nashville won over Troy Triad 49-28 and Highland defeated O'Fallon 59-44.

Highland advances to the championship game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against either Teutopolis or Belleville West. Those two teams play tonight at 8. Also tonight, Belleville Althoff meets Breese Mater Dei at 5 and Trenton Wesclin takes on Nokomis at 6:30 for the right to advance to the seventh place game Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

Hillsboro and Nashville advance to meet for the consolation championship at 10 a.m. Saturday. O'Fallon will take on the loser of the Teutopolis vs. Belleville West contest at 1 p.m. for third place.