Thursday's Girls Prep Basketball: Victory #7 for Lady Indians
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[After a racehorse-paced first half, Du Quoin High School's Girls Basketball team slowed down the pace against Murphysboro down to a quick trot in the final two quarters Thursday.
The Lady Indians, switching to a zone defense, forced the visiting squad into some poor field goal shooting down the stretch and pulled away for a 64-50 victory in Anders Memorial Gym.
Now 7-2, Du Quoin returns to action Tuesday against Pinckneyville.
The win was the second of the young season over Murphysboro, coming about two weeks after the first match-up in the Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic.
"Murphysboro's improved quite a bit since then, " Lady Indians coach Shawn File said. "I thought this was a good team win. Everyone contributed and we were kind of able to just survive after a helter-skelter start."
Du Quoin led 20-17 following the opening frame, fighting back Murphysboro's sticky full court press. The lead was 37-29 by intermission, despite 11 first half points from Lady Red Devils center Alyssa Sturgeon.
"The zone defense really slowed Murphysboro down in the second half,' File said. "We pushed them to the outside. They hit a few three's late when the game was already decided. We also were able to keep them off the boards and cut down their second chances."
Jessica Hirsch scored 23 points for Du Quoin-including three baskets behind the three-point stripe-with Rebekah Maddox and Heather Cavins each scoring a dozen points. Maddox had a team-high eight rebounds. Megi Jones had nine points, hitting a pair of key three-pointers.
Sturgeon's 15 points topped Murphysboro, which also had 13 points from Chelci Gillespie and 12 by Halylie Hines.
Du Quoin 64, Murphysboro 50
Murphy 18 11 9 12-50
Du Quoin 20 17 17 10-64
Murphysboro (3-6):
Dowell 4, Kemp 3, Meade 3, Sturgeon 15, Gillespie 13, Hines 12, Torgesen 0, Smith 0. TOTALS 21 4-11 50.
Du Quoin (7-2):
Jones 3 1-6 9, Gates 1 2-2 4, Hirsch 8 4-7 23, Ward 1 0-1 2, Anders 1 0-0 2, Cavins 5 2-3 12, Maddox 6 0-3 12. TOTALS 25 9-22 64.
THREE-POINTERS-Murphysboro 5(Kemp, Meade, Gillespie 3). Du Quoin 5 (Jones 2, Hirsch 3). TEAM FOULS-Murphysboro 15, Du Quoin 11.
MURPHY EDGES JAYVEES
Jason James' junior varsity squad (2-2, 1-1) couldn't overcome 31 turnovers and lost to Murphysboro 48-44 in Thursday's preliminary game.
Cavins had 14 points and seven rebounds with Taylor King adding 11 points and seven boards. Cassidy Rice, Ashley Ward, Cavins, Curry Emling and Magen Edwards all handed out two assists.
Ward was the steals leader with three.
"I am not all disappointed in our effort," James said. "We just have to do a better job of taking care of the ball."
Du Quoin, 2-0, won Thursday's freshman game.