Girls Prep Basketball: Lady Indians Fall Against Strong Sparta Squad

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin High School's Girls Basketball team battled one of the River-to-River Conference's top teams-Sparta-right down to the final minutes Tuesday night.

A 61-43 loss to the host squad didn't indicate the tightness of the contest, which served as the SIRR opener for both squads.

The Lady Indians, 4-2, host Harrisburg Thursday night.

Sparta's record is 4-0.

Trailing just 28-22 at halftime, the Lady Indians fell behind 46-30 as the final quarter began before making a late run.

Jessica Robinson scored a game-high 21 points for the Lady Bulldogs, who out-pointed Du Quoin 12-9 from the foul line.

Freshman center Rebekah Maddox was the lone Lady Indian to reach double figures, scoring a dozen points. Megi Jones added seven points, Keawna Anders six and Heather Cavins five.

In the junior varsity game, Du Quoin fell 42-36 in its season opener.

Ashley Ward scored 13 points and had three steals. Shelby Presley scored nine points and shared rebound honors with Megan Edwards.

Each had 10 boards.

Curry Emling added seven points.

"I thought we played very hard," Lady Indians jayvee coach Jason James said. "We just didn't put the ball in the hole."