Ella Niebrugge and Bria Beals combined to score 33 points Tuesday night, helping the Effingham Lady Hearts open Apollo Conference play in impressive style, posting a 54-45 victory at Taylorville.

The Lady Tornados led the entire first half. They opened a 15-7 lead in the second period, but Beals then connected on back-to-back threes to get EHS within one. Taylorville then scored the final four points to take a 26-21 lead at intermission.

“It was just an incredible effort,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “The first half was a real struggle. We turned the ball over 15 times, and most of the time, for no reason.”

Niebrugge then went to work in the third quarter. She knocked down a three, added another jumper and scored seven points. Beals scored five points and freshman Averie Wolfe trained a shot from behind the arc late in the quarter to send the Lady Hearts into the final eight minutes with a 38-35 advantage.

In the fourth period, Niebrugge scored six, including 4-for-4 from the foul line, and Beals added another shot from long range. EHS made 9-of-11 foul shots down the stretch to secure the win.

Niebrugge finished with 17 points, Beal scored 16 and Madison Mapes added eight.

“This was a great win for us,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “Taylorville was picked second in the preseason Apollo poll by the coaches, so this was a really good start for us. The Apollo is so good this year, it’s going to be a great test every night out.”

The Lady Hearts are now 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the league. They will have two home games this week – Thursday against Mt. Vernon and Saturday against North Clay.