Lady Hearts Repeat as Charleston Tournament Champions

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Published on December 29 2013 12:11 am
Last Updated on December 30 2013 7:41 am
Written by Greg Sapp

The Effingham Lady Hearts have repeated as champions of the Charleston Girls Holiday Tournament.

Effingham posted a 60-52 win over the Taylorville Lady Tornadoes Saturday.

Taylorville led 18-15 after one quarter but Effingham was in front 29-28 at halftime and 40-39 after three quarters before outscoring Taylorville 20-13 in the final stanza for the eight-point win.

Coach Jeff Schafer said, "This was a great end for 2013 for our girls; we had an incredible year dating back to last season.  Taylorville is a very good aggressive team and they kind of controlled the first quarter; to our kids credit we adjusted and kept plugging away and were consistent and things worked out well.  We got contributions from everyone again; that was kind of the theme all tournament.  Our starters were solid again and Brittany (Beals) and Lauren (Stephenson) were huge off the bench for us as we got 17 points and 10 rebounds from our bench.  We did a great job taking care of the basketball and then knocking down the free throws at the end of the game. I was blessed with a very good team last season and this year's group has just kept working and trying to improve each time out.  Now, we get to enjoy a few days off and start preparing for the next part of our season.  This was a big win as it is the first time we ever repeated as champs at Charleston.

The Lady Hearts remain undefeated on the season at 14-0.  

Caitlin Kaufman led in scoring with 18 points, Lauren Stephenson and Josie Zerrusen each scored 13 points, Jantzen Michael scored 10 points, Brittany Beals had four points and Stephanie Robb added two points.

Championship Game

EFFINGHAM (60)

Michael 2-4 -- 10, Kaufman 4-7 -- 18, Robb 0-2 -- 2, Zerrusen 2-10 -- 15, Stephenson 2-9 -- 13, Beals 1-2 -- 4. TOTALS 11 FG, 34 FT. (individuals add up to 62 while 60 listed as final)

TAYLORVILLE (52)

Durham 2-0 -- 4, Moats 1-2 -- 4, Brown 3-0 -- 6, Bollinger 3-4 -- 10, Norville 5-1 -- 11, Smart 2-7 -- 11, Brandis 3-0 -- 7. TOTALS 19 FG, 13 FT. (individuals add up to 53 while 52 listed as final)

Effingham            15    14    11    20    --    60

Taylorville          18    10    11    13    --    52

3-point FG -- Effingham 6 (Kaufman 3, Michael 2, Zerrusen 1), Taylorville 1 (Brandis 1).