“We didn’t have any intensity the final 20 minutes against Taylorville,” Schafer noted. “But tonight was much better. We kept battling and attacking the whole game. I was very pleased with what I saw.

“We changed things up a little in practice,” Schafer explained. “Every drill had a winner and loser. We made practice much more competitive. We need to be able to compete for longer periods of time. I’m not going to say we played great at the end of our game tonight, but we played through it. And we played with intensity the whole game.”

And the Lady Hearts protected the basketball.

After trailing by double digits at halftime, the Lady Bulldogs came out with full court pressure in the second half. But Effingham, especially guards Sawyer Althoff and Madison Mapes, handled that pressure well. EHS had just five turnovers the final 16 minutes.

Mahomet-Seymour did trim the margin to four points, 43-39, at the 4:05 mark, but the Lady Hearts made plays down the stretch to prevent the score from getting any closer. Maples drilled a big three-pointer 30 seconds later and Armstrong scored a key bucket off an in-bounds play that more or less sealed the outcome, making it 48-40 with 1:22 to go.

“The entire game, when we in-bounded the ball, we always handed it back off,” Schafer noted. “This time, Taylor faked the hand-off and was wide open to drive to the basket. We kept that play in our back pocket for the right time and it worked.”

Early on, this game was a carbon copy of the first meeting, which MSHS won 56-47. The two teams played on even terms and the score was tied 9-9.

But the Lady Hearts had a big second quarter, sparked by the shooting of Meredith Schaefer, to build a lead they never relinquished. Four points by Schaefer, a bucket by Armstrong and a free throw by Frost, gave EHS a 16-10 advantage.

Schaefer connected twice from behind the arc. Althoff added a pair of free throws, Mapes hit a short jumper and Armstrong scored right before the buzzer to cap a 19-8 run and send the Lady Hearts to the locker room with a 28-17 lead.

“We ran a couple plays for Meredith and she knocked down the shots,” Schafer said. “She’s our best outside shooter. But I also liked seeing her put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket a couple times.”

The Lady Bulldogs started trimming the margin in the third period. Durbin Thomas connected on a three-pointer and scored seven points. But the play of Frost underneath helped Effingham stay in front. She scored three times in the quarter. A three-point play by Savannah Orgeron brought MSHS to within 39-34 as the two teams headed into the final period.

“Annie got good position near the basket and we did a good job getting her the ball,” Schafer said. “We had several girls really step up tonight and do good things. In that fourth period, it seemed like Sawyer and Madison came up with just about every rebound. This was a good effort tonight.”

Effingham had three players in double figures. Frost led the way with 15 points, while Schaefer scored 13 and Armstrong added 10. Armstrong and Mapes both grabbed seven rebounds and Althoff had five, helping the Lady Hearts to a 27-26 rebounding edge.

For the game, the Lady Hearts shot 37 percent overall, connecting on 19-f-51 attempts. They were 4-for-11 from three-point range and 6-for-12 at the line.

Orgeron led Mahomet-Seymour with 13 points. Cayla Koerner, who scored 23 points in the first meeting, was limited to just four.

The Lady Hearts improved to 4-6 overall and 4-5 in the Apollo Conference. They are scheduled to play Saturday at home against Mt. Zion.