Mt. Zion used a 12-3 scoring surge in the third quarter to build a double-digit lead, en route to a 47-35 victory at home Saturday.

The Lady Braves held a slim 20-18 advantage at halftime, but expanded their lead to 32-21 heading into the final eight minutes.

“We played pretty good at times today,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “But we have yet to play a full game. We had a bad nine-minute stretch from the end of the second quarter until midway in the fourth. Against a team like Mt. Zion, with all of their experience, it makes it really hard to come back on them.”

Effingham had just three players score, but Hayley Diveley had a big game offensively. She connected on three 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 26 points.

“Hayley played the best varsity game of her career,” Schafer noted. “She had a great week of practice and carried that over into the game.

Callie Feldhake also had a strong overall game with seven rebounds, three assists and four steals; and Annie Frost had four points and seven rebounds.

The Lady Hearts are now 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the Apollo Conference. Mt. Zion improved to 10-3 and is unbeaten at 5-0 in the conference.

Effingham will now compete in the Charleston Girls Holiday Tournament, which begins Friday. The Lady Hearts will play two games that day – at noon against Teutopolis; and at 7:30 p.m. against Charleston.