BASKETBALL: DHS foul trouble leads to Pinckneyville victory
DU QUOIN, IL - The DuQuoin High School Seniors on the Girls Basketball Team were honored and celebrated on Tuesday evening in a game against Pinckneyville at home. Pinckneyville put a damper on the evening, as did the weather, by beating the Indians 58-35. The Indians drop to 8-19 on the season, and the Panthers move up to 14-13.
Prior to the Varsity game, four Indian Seniors were honored. They are: Rebekah Maddox, daughter of Anna and Don Maddox; Taylor King, daughter of Tammy Townley and Tyler King; Kelsey Robinson, daughter of Chris and Alecia Robinson, and Alexis Kohrs, daughter of Laura Kohrs.
Pinckneyville led after the first quarter 13-6, and 26-14 at the half. DuQuoin tried to get back in the game, but Pinckneyville kept the offensive pressure on. The Panthers led after three quarters 39-22, and the final score was 58-35.
DuQuoin was led in scoring by Rebekah Maddox with 15 points. Taylor King contributed 7 points, Kelsey Robinson 6, Katrina Whitley 4, and Bailie Caldwell 3. Others in the game were Alaina Caldwell, Andrea Morgan, Sydney Lewis, Abby Myers, Jordyn Bullar, and Ashanti Warren.
DuQuoin Coach Shawn File said, "Pinckneyville is a very well balanced team. It was a great atmosphere to play in tonight with the Band and Indianettes. I appreciate them being here tonight to recognize our Seniors. I thought we handled the pressure pretty well early, but we got into foul trouble, and we made some mistakes with the ball. Pinckneyville is so balanced, and they did a great job on the boards tonight. We did a good job of attacking the defense, but we missed opportunities to score, and we did not hit our free throws. Now we turn our sights to our regional, and playing Z-R-C on Monday."
Pinckneyville had nine players score in the game. Katelyn Mayer had 14 points, Sophie Keith 7, Alyssa Hirsch 7, Megan Bagley 7, Dani Schoenbacher 7, Keelyn Stein 7, Heather McDaniel 5, Kaitlyn Goldman 2, and Kearston Opp 2.
Pinckneyville Coach Alan Engelhardt was very excited about the win. "Obviously, DuQuoin has a real nice inside player with Rebekah Maddox. We had to come out and pressure them. We did a good job in spurts getting out and scoring. It was a six point spread for a while; then ten points. The second half we did a much better job with the tempo, and played a more complete game. Keith running the floor the way she did--she opened things up. Mayer did a great job as did Bagley. McDaniel did a great job of sharing the basketball as did Hirsch."
DuQuoin will be playing in the Regional at Zeigler-Royalton against Z-R-C at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Pinckneyville plays at home against Sparta this Thursday for their Senior Night before heading to the Trico Regional as the No. 2 seed.