Lady Indians extend streak to three games; head to Pinckneyville for showdown with rival Panthers
DU QUOIN - Du Quoin shot .875 from the field in the third quarter to pull away and beat Murphysboro, 51-38, for the Lady Indians' third win in a row in the final game of its nonconference schedule last Thursday.
"When the ball goes in the basket you look really, really good," said Du Quoin coach Shawn File. "We keep getting better every time out and winning three in a row is a good place to be in."
Du Quoin (13-10, 2-4 Mississippi Division) resumes its conference schedule with a Rivalry Game at Pinckneyville (16-9, 3-3) on Tuesday before hosting Sparta (6-14, 0-6) Thursday.
"We have four big games left and will try to make a strong run for the finish line and get ready for the postseason," File said. "This is building a resume for the subsectional."
Sophomore forward Ayanna Dunklin led Du Quoin with a career high 17 points on eight field goals and 1-of-2 from the line with seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Lauren Heape was first in rebounds with nine and second in scoring with 12 on five field goals and 2-of-3 from the line.
"Ayanna is strong around the rim with some putbacks for us," File said. "Lauren is pretty consistent putting the ball in the basket. We have a bunch of kids who can rebound and put the ball back in. Tonight we were able to get to the rim, so we went to the rim."
Murphysboro junior Bridgett Clover kept the Red Devils in the game with 20 points, including six from beyond the arc.
Defensively the Lady Indians forced 14 turnovers with 13 coming on steals led by Heape; and five and four each from Dunklin and Bailey Harsy.
"We were just trying to put good pressure on them and reading the passing lanes," File said.
Murphysboro (6-16) won the opening tip-off and missed its first shot, but Ashley Jarrett, who was playing her sixth game after missing the first part of the season with an injury, stole the ball and fed Island Dooley for a fastbreak layup to give the Red Devils the early lead.
"Murphysboro is a different team from the one we saw at the beginning of the season," File said. "I knew we were going to have our hands full and we did. It was a two-point game at the half and three points with five minutes left. The score didn't really tell how close a game this really was. It's nice to be on the winning side of one of those."
Du Quoin went on a 6-0 run on baskets by Delaynie Dearmond and Heape on inbounds plays and a basket by Dunklin. The Lady Indians held an 8-4 lead with 2:08 left and 10-6 with 46 seconds remaining, but Clover drained her first 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to cut the lead to 10-9 heading in the second quarter.
A jumper by Dunklin to open the second quarter upped the lead to 12 points, but Murphysboro came right back to take its first lead 13-12 with 5:02 left in the half.
Du Quoin retook the lead on a three-point play by Heape on a basket and a foul followed by another inbounds basket by Sophie Hill and a pullup jumper by Heape to lead 19-13 with 1:15 left.
Murphysboro closed out the half on a 4-0 run, including Clover's second 3-pointer with 14 seconds remaining to cut the lead to two. Clover then opened the third quarter with her third to give Murphysboro the lead 20-19.
Du Quoin then made it first four shots, including three in a row by Dunklin to regain the lead. After Dearmond missed a jumper from the right side of the lane the Lady Indians made their last three shots starting with a layup by Loveleen Dunklin.
The run continued with a jumper by Abbi Mocaby and ending with a jumper from the right corner by Harsy at the buzzer to take a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter. In between Loveleen Dunklin and Mocaby were perfect at the line making two each.
Murphysboro made its last run at the beginning of the fourth quarter cutting the lead to three with 5:02 remaining with the help of Clover's last two 3-pointers.
"Our girls did a great job of taking time off the clock at the very end," File said. "We probably reversed the ball five or six times to run 45 seconds off the clock and then got a layup. That's how you draw it up as a coach."
But the Red Devil went cold from the field missing their last five shots while the Lady Indians made three of their fast four shots to close on a 10-0 run.
"Defensively we did a better job in the second half on their shooters," File said.
Next game: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 at Pinckneyville.