BASKETBALL: Du Quoin girls down Cobden
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[DuQuoin High School Girls Basketball Team got off to a good start at the Herrin Holiday Hoops Tournament on Monday evening taking down Cobden 48-33. But DuQuoin had to work hard and come from behind to get the job done.
The first quarter had both teams getting off to a very slow start and ended in a 6-6 score. The second quarter saw Cobden pull ahead 18-16. DuQuoin finally got into the flow of the game in the third quarter and began to pull ahead. DuQuoin led 31-29 at the end of the quarter. In the fourth quarter, DuQuoin outscored Cobden 17-4 and the final score was 48-33.
DuQuoin's leading scorer was Jessica Hirsch with 22 points. A total of eight players scored for DuQuoin. Cassidy Rice had 7, Steffanie Gates 5, Rebekah Maddox 5, Ashley Ward 4, Curry Emling 2, Keawna Anders 2, and Taylor King 1. Cobden was led by Kala Katermus with 18 points. Becca Russell scored 11 points, Alecia Botchy 3, and Jordan Gray 1.
DuQuoin's record moves to 8-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference. Coach Shawn File was happy with his team's performance particularly in the second half. "Our execution was good tonight especially when Cobden pressed us. We were able to break their press and score some lay ups out of that. Defensively we had a great effort tonight. Our rebounding was much better tonight. Jessica Hirsch was able to pick Cobden's point guard's pocket (Becca Russell) several times and score. I am very proud of the girls tonight. It was a good team effort. Only four of Cobden's players were able to score, and we had eight scoring. We finished really strong in the fourth quarter."
DuQuoin plays all week in the Herrin tournament. DuQuoin and Pinckneyville match up on Tuesday evening at eight o'clock. The first game of the evening has Herrin playing Vienna (6:30) followed by Cobden vs. Murphysboro in Gym A at 7:15. DuQuoin and Pinckneyville will square off in the final game of the evening. These two teams played earlier in the season with Pinckneyville taking the victory using three pointers "to shoot out the lights" at Thomas Gym in Pinckneyville.