BASKETBALL: Du Quoin girls drop opener to Murphy
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[In the nightcap of the 2010 Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic on Thursday, the host school fell behind early, made a tremendous comeback and ultimately fell one point short, falling to Murphysboro 41-40.
The DuQuoin Indians Girls Basketball Team did not fare well in the first half. There were way too many turnovers and missed shots. They never seemed to get in the flow of the game during the first half. The score at half-time was 26-12 Murphysboro.
At the end of the third quarter it was still Murphysboro 37-24. The fourth quarter, however, was all Indians.
DuQuoin cut the lead to nine points at the 4:22 mark. A minute later they were behind by only 6. Taylor King and Rebekah Maddox scored to bring DuQuoin within a point at 39-38.
Maddox rebounded a missed free throw to score for DuQuoin. That put them in the lead for the first time during the entire game at 40-39.
At 43.5 seconds left, DuQuoin took a time out. DuQuoin was called for a blocking foul. Murphysboro shot a 1-1, but missed, and DuQuoin got the rebound. DuQuoin stepped on the side line, and Murphysboro got the ball back. Murphysboro took a time out with the score 40-39 DuQuoin.
Murphysboro's Halylie Hines scored on a reverse lay up with 4.4 seconds left. DuQuoin threw the ball away as time ran out.
DuQuoin outscored Murphysboro by 16-4 in the fourth quarter. At one point in the quarter, DuQuoin had a 14-0 run over Murphysboro. It was a miraculous comeback that fell one point short.
Scoring for DuQuoin (0-1) were Rebekah Maddox with 14 points, Jessica Hirsch 11, Steffanie Gates 7, Taylor King 4, Cassidy Rice 2, and Shelby Presley 2.
Murphysboro was led by Hines' 16 points..
Coach Shawn File was thrilled with his team's performance in the fourth quarter.
"In the fourth quarter we played well," he said. "We looked like the team that practiced all week. We had nice transitions and got good shots. I am happy with the way we came back. We should have extended our pressure more earlier in the game. I am proud of the girls.
"Murphysboro is a much improved team from last year. They are well coached. Murphy played better tonight than they did on Monday. We had girls that stepped up tonight. Now we have to regroup for tomorrow night."
On Friday evening DuQuoin plays Elverado at 8:00 while Murphysboro and Steeleville square off at 6:30.
ELVERADO LOSES TO JOHNSTON CITY
Johnston City (2-0) topped Elverado (0-2) in the first game 41-29, leading all the way. Elverado had their opportunities, but poor free throw shooting and too many missed shots gave Johnston City the win.
Lacey Qualls and Corrine WIlson led Elverado with 7 points each, Meghann Trammel added 6, Sami Hicks 4, Jennifer Sarenson and Rebecca Korando 2, Chelsea Cochran 1.
Elverado Coach Lane Bedar commented that "again free throws killed us. We shot 11-35. You are not going to win too many games doing that. We stayed with them for a while, and even took the lead in the third quarter, but we can't seem to make our shots when we need to."
Johnston City had Rowdee Sanders scoring 19 points, Marissa Montgomery 13, Destinee Lawrence 7, and Kelsie Nagrodski 2.
The tournament continues on Friday with Elverado playing against DuQuoin in the second game of the evening (8:00). Murphysboro and Steeleville will meet in the first game (6:30).
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Doug Daniels also contributed to this story.
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