Effingham Holds Off St. Anthony at Girls Round Robin; Dieterich Loses Heartbreaker

The Effingham Lady Hearts downed the St. Anthony Lady Bulldogs 48-39 Tuesday night at the Effingham Girls Round Robin Tournament.  The contest was heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.  The game was also video recorded; watch for the replay on the website by noon Wednesday.

In the other contest, Centralia edged Dieterich 38-36.

Effingham led the contest with the Bulldogs start-to-finish, but the game was always a contest.  The Hearts led 14-12 after one quarter and a 4-2 second quarter put the Hearts up 18-14 at halftime.  Effingham played a better fundamental game in the second half and pushed the lead up to 12 points on a couple of occasions, leading 34-24 after three quarters.  St. Anthony never quit, though, and got back to within three and two and had the ball before the Hearts made key foul shots down the stretch to post the win.

Effingham's Josie Zerrusen led all scorers with 17 points on eight-of-12 shooting and also pulled six rebounds.  Stephanie Robb had eight points and seven rebounds.  Also for Effingham: Lauren Stephenson 6, Kelli Utz, Caitlin Kaufman and Felicia Totten 5 each, and Jantzen Michael 2. 

Makayla Walsh and Kate Richards led St. Anthony with nine points apiece and Richards grabbed eight rebounds.  Megan Nuxoll scored eight points with six rebounds.  Also for St. Anthony: Melissa Bushur 6, Lauren Wendt 4 and Lexie Niebrugge 3. 

Effingham made 16 of 35 shots for 46% and made 14 of 20 foul shots while committing 12 turnovers and pulling down 23 rebounds with two of six from three-point land. 

St. Anthony made just 35% of its shots on 13 of 37 shooting and made 10 of 15 from the line while turning the ball over 15 times and grabbing 23 rebounds with three of 12 three-point shooting.

Effingham improved to 2-0 in the tournament and 17-3 on the season.  St. Anthony is 0-2 in the tournament and 12-9 for all games.

Centralia 38, Dieterich 36

A tough loss for Dieterich in their tournament opener.  The teams battled throughout with Centralia hitting two foul shots with less than a second remaining to post the win.

The Maroons had two players post double-doubles; Candace Niemerg with 16 points and 12 rebounds and Mallorie Vahling with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Effingham Invitational

Game Three

CENTRALIA (38)

Smith 0-1 -- 1, Wernsman 0-0 -- 0, Schwartz 0-0 -- 0, Peters 0-0 -- 0, Loman 3-1 -- 7, Cavaletto 0-0 -- 0, Holthaus 6-4 -- 16, Mays 0-0 -- 0, Meadows 4-2 -- 10, Stan 2-0 -- 4. TOTALS 15 FG, 8 FT.

DIETERICH (36)

Flach 1-0 -- 2, Higgs 1-0 -- 3, Niemerg 5-5 -- 16, Vahling 5-3 -- 13, Wright 1-0 -- 2. TOTALS 13 FG, 8 FT.

Centralia          8    12      8    10    --    38

Dieterich          8      8    10    10    --    36

3-point FG -- Centralia 0, Dieterich 2 (Higgs 1, Niemerg 1).

Game Four

EFFINGHAM (48)

Utz 0-5 -- 5, Michael 0-2 -- 2, Totten 2-0 -- 5, Stephenson 2-2 -- 6, Kaufman 1-3 -- 5, Robb 3-2 -- 8, Zerrusen 8-0 -- 17, Field 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 16 FG, 14 FT.

ST. ANTHONY (39)

Gardewine 0-0 -- 0, L. Niebrugge 1-1 -- 3, Bushur 3-0 -- 6, Wendt 1-2 -- 4, Mumm 0-0 -- 0, Nuxoll 3-2 -- 8, Richards 3-1 -- 9, Walsh 2-4 -- 9. TOTALS 13 FG, 10 FT.

Effingham             14    4    16    14    --    48

St. Anthony          12    2    10    15    --    39

3-point FG -- Effingham 2 (Totten 1, Zerrusen 1), St. Anthony 3 (Richards 2, Walsh 1).