BASKETBALL: Johnston City holds off Du Quoin, 47-35

Du Quoin had cut into a double-digit Johnston City lead and trailed by six just before the end of the third quarter, but the visiting Lady Indians closed out strong and held off the Tip-Off Classic hosts 47-35 on Monday night.

Johnston City scored put together an 8-0 run at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter to push their lead back to fourteen before DHS mounted another rally.

"We'd been talking about the intensity, and we really felt like there were some gaps in their zone," said Du Quoin coach Shawn File, "and if we would go and penetrate and attack that we would probably get some foul calls. We just, for whatever reason, were just a little bit timid finishing. We are going to learn to finish around the basket and go up strong with it. We looked like we were kind of hoping to make it instead of feeling like we were going to make it.

Kate Smith hit a three-pointer then took a steal all the way for a lay-up with 3:42 to play and Du Quoin was down 43-35, but Smith would leave the game moments later after hitting her head on the floor fighting for possession.

"Kate is a leader for us," File said. "She's our point guard, she's our ball handler, she's running the show for us. She's scored well the entire tournament for us. We've got offense that's going to come from different spots, we just don't know where it's going to come from. Sadie Day played a better ball game tonight, she got a couple of buckets for us, and that's the Sadie Day that we've seen, we've just got to bring it back out somehow, some way.

After Smith's injury, DHS failed to score a single point. She led Du Quoin with ten points on the night. Day added eight, Alaina Caldwell seven, Grace Haney four, and Jordyn Bullar and Tarynn Mays had three apiece.

"I thought our post players did a good job," said File. "When they made their run late, we tried to put a little bit of pressure on them, we just didn't rotate defensively real well. That's something that we can improve on and work on, but eventually we're going to have to transfer it from practice into the game. We're a step slow right now."

Du Quoin (1-3) closes out the Tip-Off on Tuesday night against Steeleville at 8:30 p.m.