The Lady Hearts were unable to widen the gap any further in the third period. They did lead by as many as 21 points, but with Anderson scoring nine points, Mt. Zion was still within 17 – 40-23 – entering the final quarter.

Niebrugge then knocked down a three and Althoff and Madison Mapes converted Lady Brave turnovers into scores, resulting in a 7-0 burst in the first minute of the fourth period to increase the lead to 47-23. Mt. Zion never got closer than 21 the rest of the way.

Anderson finished with 22 of her team’s 30 points, but Schafer was pleased with his team’s defense.

“Sawyer is arguably the best defender in our conference. It would be between her and (Faith) Niebrugge from Mattoon,” the veteran coach noted. “She makes whoever she guards earn their points. Anderson got some points, but Sawyer made her take some tough shots.

“I thought our overall defense was very good,” Schafer added. “You always want to make teams take tough shots and not foul. We did a good job of that today.”

The Lady Braves shot a cool 29 percent overall from the floor, making just 12 of 41 attempts. They were 4-for-8 from behind the arc and 2-of-5 from the free throw line.

Schaefer led all scorers with 23 points. She was 5-for-9 from three-point range.

“I thought the girls did a good job getting her the ball when she was open,” Coach Schafer noted. “Meredith had some open shots, but she also did a good job fighting inside and got some of her points off offensive putbacks. She had a strong game.”

Althoff was also in double figures, finishing with 10 points, while Allie added eight. The Lady Hearts made 20-of-46 attempts, a 43 percent clip. They were 8-for-17 from long range and 6-for-10 from the foul line.

The Lady Hearts are 11-5 on the season and 3-3 in the Apollo Conference. They will play Monday at Neoga.