BASKETBALL: Lady Indians finish strong against Elverado
Du Quoin was able to do last night what they couldn't do in their season opener on Tuesday - finish. The Lady Indians put away Elverado with a strong fourth quarter, using a second-half run to grab their first win 35-27 on day two of the Tip-Off Classic at DHS.
"They made their run and we were able to finish tonight," said Du Quoin head coach Shawn File, "that was one of the things we talked about in practice was finishing the ball game. We didn't finish on Tuesday night, but I'm proud of them for coming out and finishing tonight."
Elverado committed 16 turnovers in the ball game and made only six field goals on the night.
"We were in the ball game," said EHS head coach Rasheeda Love, "we got it down to three (in the third quarter), they apply the pressure, and we just turn the ball over. Tonight, instead of the boards being a killer for us, it was turnovers. I felt like the effort was there again tonight, I felt like our kids played really hard."
Du Quoin held the Lady Falcons without a single field goal in the first half, but led just 14-9 at the break.
The Lady Indians took advantage of three straight Elverado turnovers early in the third quarter to build a ten-point lead at 21-11, but the Lady Falcons would fight back.
Cheyenne Abbadusky hit a pair of free throws, Kylee Bedar sank a three-pointer, and Abbadusky put in a baseline jumper after a Lady Indians turnover to complete a 7-0 run and EHS trailed by just three with 3:32 to go in the period.
"Defensively, they were great making the adjustments that we had to make," Love said. "Offensively, it took us a little while to get going, but once it got going it looked pretty good. We're still working on some things."
After Sadie Day made one of two free throws for DHS, Abbadusky's stick-back bucket with 2:26 left in the period cut the lead to 22-20, but Du Quoin would answer back with a run of their own.
Over the next seven and a half minutes of game action, the Lady Indians outscored Elverado 13-1 with Alaina Caldwell's basket with 3:16 to play giving Du Quoin their biggest lead of the night, 35-21.
"Defensively, incredible," File said. "We've got to cut down on the fouling, but in the second half we came out with a couple different looks and put some pressure on them, and we knew that would bother them a little bit, and it caused some unforced stuff on their side. We took advantage of that. Offensively, we just have to score better."
Kate Smith and Tarynn Mays led a balanced scoring attack by DHS with eight points apiece. Caldwell added seven points, Jordyn Bullar had four, Day three, Emily Born and Mackenzie Jackson two and Grace Haney one.
Abbadusky bounced back from a three-point game on Tuesday to lead the Lady Falcons with sixteen on Thursday. Bedar and Paige Newfarmer each had five points, Kaitlin Lively had one.
"Like I told them in the locker room, it's early, so don't get down on yourselves," said Love. "The things myself and assistant coach Ernest Metcalf are teaching you are to help us get ready for February and for March, so let's take these losses and learn from them and make the adjustments we need to make."
The Lady Indians Tip-Off Classic resumes on Friday night with EHS (0-2) taking on Steeleville at 7:00 p.m. and DHS (1-1) squaring off against Murphysboro at 8:30 p.m.