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Lady Indians Tip-Off Classic: Du Quoin Snaps Loss Skid; Murphysboro and Johnston City Win

Posted November 17, 2009 10:00 pm

Jeff Profitt

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Defending champion Johnston City, Murphysboro and host Du Quoin were first round winners as the 7th Annual Lady Indians Tip-Off Classic-sponsored by the Du Quoin Jaycees-opened Tuesday night in Anders Memorial Gymnasium.

The round robin event continues with three more games on Thursday.

Du Quoin snapped a 22-game losing streak, which extended all the way back to last year's Tip-Off Classic, with a 52-37 victory over Steeleville. Johnston City defeated Elverado 43-15 and Murphysboro outlasted Chester 47-33 in the other two contests.

6-foot freshman Rebekah Maddox came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points in the Du Quoin victory. She also pulled down seven rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.

Constant pressure defense by the Lady Indians forced 27 Steeleville (0-1) turnovers.

Megi Jones and Jessica Hirsch each recorded seven steals and Maddox added four more swipes.

"Megi Jones can just flat out defend people and she really keyed our defense," Lady Indians coach Shawn File said. "We wanted to run a little bit more this year and use our pressure defense to create some scoring chances. I felt like our defensive intensity was there from the very start. In the first half, we played 10 girls and all 10 really got after it defensively."

Steeleville's only lead came when Natalie Ruebke scored the game's first point on a foul toss. Hirsch's basket about three minutes put the Lady Indians in front to stay.

Leading 22-11 by intermission, Du Quoin started the third quarter in a flurry.

A pair of quick baskets from Hirsch pushed the margin to 15 points, but the Lady Indians would add just one more field goal-a jump shot by Steffanie Gates from just inside the foul line-over the next five minutes.

Steeleville was also sluggish, going without a field goal until Ruebke's three with under a minute left. The frame ended with Du Quoin holding a 28-19 advantage.

The Lady Indians' fullcourt pressure began to take its toll in the last quarter.

Back-to-back steals from Hirsch keyed a 7-0 run that extended Du Quoin's margin to 16 points. Steeleville trailed by 21 late in the game before both benches emptied.

Maddox tossed in 10 points in the last frame with Keawna Anders (six rebounds) knocking down a pair of baskets after offensive rebounds to deliver the final dagger on the Lady Warriors' comeback hopes.

"Its a major improvement over last year," File said. "We put 52 points on the board and really didn't shoot all that well. At times, were really weren't very patient with our offense. But I can't complain. The effort was great and the girls had a lot of fun out there tonight."

Hirsch joined Maddox in double figures with 11 points. The sophomore guard also hauled down six rebounds and finished with a game-best 10 assists.

Anders had seven points, Cavins six and Jones five.

Ruebke topped Steeleville-playing its first varsity game after ending a recet coop with Trico-had 18 points from Ruebke. Jill Winkelman netted 10 points.

Du Quoin plays Chester Thursday at 8:30.

JOHNSTON CITY 43,

ELVERADO 15

A night after losing their season opener, the Johnston City High School girls basketball team bounced back with a resounding win over Elverado.

The Lady Indians (1-1) jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the opening quarter and took a 24-4 lead into the halftime break.

Elverado (0-1) missed its first 16 shots from the floor and went scoreless until a pair of free throws by Courtney Morse with 4:27 left before intermission.

"You won't win many games shooting like that," Elverado coach Lance Bedar said. "Our shot selection was poor and we weren't very patient in running the offense. Still, we had a lot of good shots but couldn't get anything to fall."

For the game, the Lady Falcons hit just four of 38 shot tries.

Marissa Montgomery paced Johnston City with 18 points. Carley Bunting had eight points and nine rebounds, while Allison Smiley chipped in seven points and swiped five steals.

"We were able to get our starters out after the first quarter so everyone got to play," said Johnston City Lenny Clark. "I was very happy about that."

The Lady Indians play Steeleville Thursday at 7 p.m.

Elverado tangles with Murphysboro in the 5:30 game and had only three players score versus Johnston City. Morse led the way with seven points and freshman Jenny Sarensen contributed six. Liz Falter had the other basket.

MURPHYSBORO 47, CHESTER 33

In the most entertaining game of the first session, the Lady Red Devils (1-0) broke open a nip-and-tuck affair shortly after halftime.

Leading just 15-14 starting the third quarter, Murphysboro mounted an 8-0 run to extend its margin.

Nykeshia Dowell, Halylie Hines and Alyssa Sturgeon threw in baskets during the fray. Sturgeon, the tournament's player at 6'2, scored seven of her team-high 15 points during the quarter as Murphysboro enjoyed a 30-18 edge to begin the final period and briefly opened a 20-point advantage before Chester clawed back.

Cassie Torgensen complimented Sturgeon's effort with eight points while Katy Flanagan and Chelsi Gillespie each netted seven.

Hilary Best was the Chester leader with 13.

Jordan Clendenin contributed nine points.

The contest featured 39 fouls and 51 free throws.

Johnston City 43, Elverado 15

Elverado 00 04 05 06- 15

J'City 11 13 14 05- 43

ELVERADO (0-1, 0-1): Trammel 0 0-0 0, Hicks 0 0-0 0, Teague 0 0-0 0, Cochran 0 0-0 0 Rawson 0 0-0 0, Falter 1 0-02, Morse 1 5-6 7, Sarensen 2 2-2 6, Newborn 0 0-0 0, Qualls 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 4 7-8 15.

JOHNSTON CITY (1-0, 1-1): Sanders 0 2-4 2, Larwence 0 0-0 0, Montgomery 6 (2) 0-1 18, Thomas 3 0-0 6, Payne 0 0-0 0, Bunting 3 4-9 10, Smiley 2 (1) 0-0 7. TOTALS 14 (3) 6-14 43.

Murphysboro 47, Chester 33

Chester 04 10 04 15- 33

Murphy 09 06 15 17- 47

CHESTER (0-1 0-1): Harper 0 0-0 0, Lyons 0 0-2 0, Clendenin 3 3-6 9, Miller 0 0-0 0, Jolly 0 0-0 0, Best 5 3-5 13, Helmers 0 2-2 2, Marcinkowski 1 0-0 2, Gates 1 0-0 2, Bert 1 4-7 6. TOTALS 10 13-24 33.

MURPHY (1-0, 1-0): Kemp 0 1-5 1, Gillespie 2 1-4 5, Hines 2 2-3 4 Mileur 0 0-0 0, Torgensen 3 2-4 8, Dowell 1 (1) 0-1 5, Flangan 3 1-2 7, Sturgeon 6 3-5 15. TOTALS 17 (1) 10-25 47.

Du Quoin 52, Steeleville 37

Steeleville 03 08 08 18- 37

Du Quoin 09 13 06 24- 52

STEELEVILLE (0-1, 0-1): Lalis 0 2-2 2, Stoffel 0 0-0 0, Wright 0 0-0 0, Mines 0 0-0 0, Byer 0 0-0 0, Winkelman 2 (1) 3-5 10, Theobald 0 0-0 0, Ruebke 5 (1) 7-11 18, Lindner 0 0-0 0, Gale 0 2-2 2, Foote 2 1-2 5. TOTALS 8 (2) 15-23 37.

Du QUOIN (1-0, 1-0): Jones 1 1-3 5, Hirsch 5 1-3 11, Ward 1 0-0 2, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Gates 1 1-2 3, Emling 0 0-0 0, Anders 3 1-5 7, Cavins 2 2-4 6, Rice 0 0-0 0, Maddox 8 4-7 20. TOTALS 21 10-25 52.

-Marion Daily Republican also contributed

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