BASKETBALL: Du Quoin stomps Steeleville

Du Quoin started fast and never led Steeleville back into the ball game as the Lady Indians raced to a 52-27 victory on the final night of the Tip-Off Classic at DHS. Kate Smith and Tarynn Mays both received all-tournament honors after the conclusion of the event.

"It was a long hard tournament, it's nice to win one here at the end," said Du Quoin head coach Shawn File. "Kate and Tarynn both deserve to be on the all-tournament team. Kate did a good job leading us, did a great job tonight penetrating. They really didn't have much help defense, she was able to kind of do what she wanted. Tarynn, defensively, is such a spark plug for us, getting steals, getting touches, getting deflections."

The Lady Indians were up 21-6 after the first quarter and didn't look back. Six different players scored in the period, and nine got into the scoring column for the game.

Smith and Alaina Caldwell each had ten points to lead the way for Du Quoin. Sadie Day added eight points, Mays and Jordyn Bullar each had six, Mackenzie Jackson and Hannah Baxter four, and Grace Haney and Grace Bailey had two apiece.

Du Quoin finished the tournament 2-3, with their other victory coming last Thursday against Elverado. Murphysboro knocked off Johnston City on Tuesday night to claim the championship at 5-0.

"We knew after watching Murphy (against Steeleville) that pressure bothered them," File said of the Lady Warriors. "We can't pressure like Murphy does, but the other teams that (Steeleville) hung around with don't pressure, so we felt like we needed to pressure and it got us a little bit of a lead. The pressure really bothered them."

Du Quoin (2-3) resumes play next Tuesday at home against conference foe Carterville.