The Effingham Lady Hearts may have been the underdogs Monday night, but they gave undefeated Charleston all it could handle.

The Lady Trojans needed a 15-4 scoring surge in the final quarter to pull ahead and post a 46-33 win at home.

The Lady Hearts jumped out to an early five-point lead, but trailed 16-11 after the opening eight minutes. The EHS defense limited Charleston to only four points in the second quarter and battled back to tie the game, 20-20, at intermission.

The Lady Trojans tried to pull away in the third period, but Effingham refused to cooperate and was still within 31-29 heading into the fourth period.

“We were right there with a little over three minutes to go,” said EHS coach Jeff Shafer. “We just needed to step up and make some plays in crunch time. We held them down in their half-court offense, but gave them too many points off our turnovers.

“This shows you the depth of our conference,” Shafer added. “On any night, anybody can beat anyone. We really battled and were in position to get a win. They are not undefeated by accident, but I thought we could have gotten them tonight.”

Charleston’s Shae Littleford led all scorers with 22 points. Meredith Schaefer led EHS with 11 points and Annie Frost added eight. The Lady Hearts shot 34 percent from the field, connecting on 14-of-41 attempts. They were out-rebounded 33-29.

The Lady Hearts dipped to 5-9 overall and 5-8 in the Apollo Conference. They will play at home tonight (Tuesday) against St. Anthony. It will be Senior Night for the Effingham girls. They will end their season at home Thursday night against Mattoon.