BASKETBALL: Lady Indians struggle vs. Mt. Vernon
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For the second night in a row, DuQuoin High School Girls Basketball tasted defeat at the hands of a larger team and school. Monday evening it was Carbondale, and Tuesday evening it was Mt. Vernon. DuQuoin continues to play in the Carbondale High School Invitational Tournament this week. Mt. Vernon took DuQuoin down by a score of 55-30.
DuQuoin played a good first half, staying with Mt. Vernon. In fact, DuQuoin led at the end of the first quarter 11-8. At the half, DuQuoin was behind 24-20. The third quarter was a totally different story. Mt. Vernon outscored DuQuoin 21 to 1 in this quarter. DuQuoin's offense went completely flat. They looked like a totally different team starting in the third quarter. Mt. Vernon only scored ten points in the fourth quarter to DuQuoin's nine. The final score was 55-30 in Mt. Vernon's favor.
DuQuoin's scoring was led by Rebekah Maddox with 10. Steffanie Gates and Jessica Hirsch had 8 points each, Katrina Whitley scored 3 points, and Taylor King 1. Hailey Stewart, Abby Myers, Bailie Caldwell, Morgan Dennis, and Shelby Presley also saw action for the Indians. DuQuoin's record is now 11-11.
DuQuoin continues to have three players on the disabled list--Ashley Ward, Curry Emling, and Cassidy Rice.
Mt. Vernon was led in scoring by Haley Lockhart and Aaliyah Palmer with 14 points each. Jessica Green had 12 points, Cheyenne Piper 6, Kelly Kujawa 6, and Alexis Robinson 3.
Coach Shawn File felt "our first half was pretty good, and then we went on this drought that expanded in the third quarter. We went from a four point spread to down 20 points in that quarter. We got careless with the ball, and Mt. Vernon turned up the pressure. They took a page from the Carbondale game book. We went eight minutes without scoring in the third quarter. Our younger kids are getting some experience in this tournament. In the long run, that will be beneficial. We are competing against larger schools. I was disappointed with our effort in the second half." Coach File is assisted by Jason James.
DuQuoin will play their final game in the tournament on Thursday, January 20, at 5:00 against Madison.