BASKETBALL: Turnovers help Lady Panthers top Du Quoin

PINCKNEYVILLE, IL - Thirty-two turnovers and a dismal first quarter spelled a seventh consecutive defeat for the Lady Indians on Tuesday at Pinckneyville as the Lady Panthers snapped a two-game skid of their own with a 44-31 victory.

Foul trouble limited Du Quoin's leading scorer Rebekah Maddox to 12 points and several minutes on the bench in both halves.

"A lot of teams know that she's the focal point of our offensive attack, so people try to draw fouls on her," said Lady Indians head coach Shawn File. "When she gets the ball on the inside, people have to collapse on her, and that gets our guards open for jump shots.When (Maddox) was out of the ball game, it was a different ball game."

Maddox's counterpart Haley Simpson also ran into some whistles, fouling out after her 13-point effort to lead PCHS.

"Our post kids are more face-up type post players," said Pinckneyville head coach Alan Engelhardt. "The difficulty (Maddox) gives us playing in the post, we kind of gave her the same difficulty at the other end. Haley Simpson did a tremendous job early of facing her up and making her come out and guard, then going by. She really set the tone for the game that way. When you've got somebody that's a great shot blocker, you can't shy from it, you've got to go after it."

Nine of Simpson's points came in the first quarter, including a three-pointer, and the Lady Panthers sprinted to a 16-4 advantage after one. A fast-break lay-up by Sophie Keith at the 4:20 mark of the second quarter ended a long drought for both teams and completed an 11-0 run for Pinckneyville, giving them their biggest lead.

"We knew they struggled to handle the ball a little bit, and I thought we could get up and pressure them," Engelhardt said. "We did a tremendous job of that in the first quarter, I think we got a little tired after that. We played with great effort there, we need to work on playing with that effort the entire game."

A change to a zone defense stopped the onslaught momentarily, as Du Quoin rattled off six straight points after the switch.

"We dug ourselves a hole turning the ball over. When we switched up on the defensive side, I thought that really changed the momentum," File said. "If you throw out the first quarter, we lost by one, but unfortunately in this game you can't pick and choose quarters to throw out. We'd get within ten, but we could just not make that big run. If we could have, then you're right back in it and who knows what happens."

The Lady Indians got closer in the third quarter at 26-18 after Maddox scored on back-to-back possessions, but thirty seconds later she picked up her fourth foul and had to sit. Pinckneyville countered with an 8-2 spurt, capped off by a three from Alyssa Hirsch, and led 34-20 heading to the fourth.

Du Quoin again closed the gap, but Keelyn Stein hit four free throws for Pinckneyville in the final 1:05 to secure the win for the Lady Panthers.

"One thing we talked about is that we got that lead and never gave it up, that's the big thing," said Engelhardt. "They made a couple runs, but didn't get closer than eight. That's nice whenever you can keep that nice distance on them and feel safe."

Simpson added 3 steals and 3 rebounds to her 13 points. Keith was a point shy of a double-double, finishing with 9 points and 10 boards. Katelyn Mayer finished with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and along with Heather McDaniel shared the team lead with 3 assists. Stein had 6 points, Hirsch 3, and McDaniel, Megan Bagley and Dani Schoenbacher each had 2.

Katrina Whitley had 8 points for Du Quoin, Bailie Caldwell and Kelsey Robinson 4, Abby Myers 2 and Taylor King 1.

Both teams are off until after Christmas when they head to the Herrin Holiday Hoops Touranment December 26-29. Du Quoin (4-8) meets Pope County on Dec. 26 at 6:30 p.m. and Pinckneyville (5-7) takes on Vienna at 7:15 p.m.