When it comes to shooting, it was a brutal first half for both teams.

The Lady Hearts broke out to an 8-0 lead and never trailed. But it was just 8-5 after the first eight minutes.

EHS then started the second quarter with a 7-0 spurt. Annie Frost scored the first four points and Madison Mapes followed with a three-point play to extend the gap to double-digits, 15-5.

But the Lady Bulldogs refused to go away. Lucy Fearday hit a jumper, Grace Karolewicz added a free throw and Riley Guy scored right before the end of the half to get St. Anthony to within 17-10 at intermission.

The shooting stats were woeful. The Lady Hearts shot just 24 percent, making 7-of-29 attempts, while the Lady Bulldogs were even colder. They made just 4-of-23 shots, a frigid 17 percent. St. Anthony also turned the ball over 10 times in the first two quarters.

“It was a difficult first half,” St. Anthony coach Aaron Rios admitted. “We’re a better defensive team now, but offensively we couldn’t make anything. Our goal this year was to shoot 40 percent. We certainly didn’t do that and our scorers didn’t have a good night either.”

“We got great shots,” Schafer explained. “I don’t think we could have done any better at getting the ball into position to score. It’s just tough to figure out why we don’t make more of those. I guess we know what we’ll need to work on this summer.”

It was still just an eight-point lead, 26-18, six minutes into the second half. That’s when Meredith Schaefer took things into her own hands. The lanky junior knocked down back-to-back three-pointers and then added a short jumper underneath to complete her personal 8-0 run and give the Lady Hearts a more comfortable 34-18 advantage heading into the final period.

“Thank goodness for Meredith,” Schafer said. “I was a little disappointed with them all in the first half and I didn’t think Meredith was moving very well. But she gave us a big lift in that third quarter. I thought her baskets really took away their spark.”

“We acted like she wasn’t even out there,” Rios added. “We know we can’t leave her wide open. She’s too good of a shooter. We were right in the ball game, but then she hit those threes and it took the wind out of our sails.”

The Lady Bulldogs were unable to get any closer than 14 points the rest of the way. A three-pointer by Madison Mapes and five more points by Schaefer, including another from behind the arc, gave EHS it biggest lead of the contest, 43-22, midway through the fourth quarter.

Schaefer and Frost led the Effingham scoring attack with 14 points each and Mapes also cracked double figures with 10. Fearday and Karolewicz led St. Anthony with 12 and 10 points respectively.

The Lady Hearts shot 53 percent in the second half to finish 35 percent overall, making 17-of-48 attempts. They were 4-for-9 from long range and 9-of-17 from the foul line. They held a slim 27-25 rebounding edge and turned the ball over 15 times.

The Lady Bulldogs ended up making 13-of-46 shots, a 28 percent clip. They were 2-for-11 from three-point range and were only 3-of-9 from the free throw line. They had 23 turnovers.

“Overall, I thought we played pretty good defense,” Schafer noted. “St. Anthony plays very hard. But I thought we played with more intensity in the second half and those threes by Meredith really got us going.”

The Lady Bulldogs dipped to 5-8 overall. They will end their season at home Thursday night. They will face Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City in the National Trail Conference Champions Night Shootout. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Lady Hearts improved to 6-9 overall. They will end their season at home Thursday night against Mattoon. EHS is 5-8 in the Apollo Conference.