By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
The final horn sounded.
The Effingham Hearts raced to the locker room.
The celebration was on.
And why not?
It had been 18 games and 54 days since their last win.
And after posting a 53-45 win Tuesday night at home over Oblong/Palestine/Hutsonville (OPH), the Hearts were more than ready to enjoy the moment.
“The locker room was electric,” said a smiling EHS coach Obie Farmer. “The kids were pumped. The water bottles were emptied and they were jumping up and down. I’ve never had a team more deserving of a win than these guys.
“They never have a bad practice,” Farmer added. “These kids work their butts off and try their hardest to apply what we’re teaching them. I’m really proud of them.”
But it didn’t come easy.
In fact, with 4:14 to play, EHS held the slimmest of leads, 46-45. OPH had just scored the first seven points of the final period and appeared to have the momentum. The Hearts had missed three shots from behind the arc and turned the ball over twice. That’s when Farmer called a timeout.
“I told the kids to play our game,” Farmer noted. “I told them we needed to find better shots. You have to learn how to win, but we haven’t been in very many close games. I thought the kids executed better after that timeout.”
The Effingham Lady Hearts erased an early deficit and rallied for a 40-29 victory over Greenville Saturday in the championship game of the Vandalia Invitational Tournament.
Greenville broke out to a 10-5 lead after one quarter and led by as many as 10 points before the Lady Hearts surged back. Effingham outscored the Lady Comets 20-10 during the middle two quarters to build a 25-20 lead and then outscored Greenville 15-9 in the final eight minutes to secure the win.
Sidney Donaldson scored 12 points to lead Effingham, while Bria Beals also finished in double figures with 10. Bella Austin reached the 1,000-point plateau in her career by scoring four points.
The Lady Hearts are now 20-4 on the season. They will return to Apollo Conference action Thursday night with a game at Mattoon. They will then return home Friday to play Teutopolis.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
For the first four minutes, Jeff Schafer didn’t like what he was seeing.
His Effingham team had already turned the ball over four times.
But in the final four minutes, the Lady Hearts defense started to take control.
Effingham closed the first quarter on a 10-2 run and never looked back Wednesday night, finishing with a 61-39 victory over Salem in a semifinal game of the Vandalia Invitational Tournament.
“There was no reason for those early turnovers,” Schafer said. “We were trying to play too fast. The girls weren’t in our offensive sets yet, and that caused some really bad passes. But then we got settled in, especially defensively. Almost all our offense tonight fed off our defense.”
That defense forced 14 first-half turnovers – seven in both quarters – and the Lady Hearts converted several of those into baskets.
A basket by Salem’s Marah Johnson had the Lady Wildcats within 8-5 at the 2:01 mark of the opening period. But they didn’t score again for five minutes. And by that time, Effingham had taken over the game.
A three-pointer by Bria Beals sparked the 18-0 run. Another three by Averie Wolfe made it 14-5 at the end of the opening eight minutes.
But the scoring surge was just getting started.
For the second straight game, Effingham’s opponent had a record-setting night from three-point range.
Centralia knocked down 16 shots from behind the arc on Wednesday night, setting a new school record, and Champaign Central equaled that Saturday afternoon, also connecting on 16 shots from long range, en route to an 82-36 victory over the Hearts in the Salem Invitation Tournament.
It tied the Champaign Central school record.
Later Saturday, EHS also dropped a 55-41 decision to Charleston in both teams’ final game of the tourney.
Champaign Central was red hot from the beginning. The Maroons made three shots from behind the arc in the first period – all three by Luke Swanson – to build an 18-6 lead after the opening eight minutes. They then connected on six more from long range in the second quarter to build a 22-point halftime lead, 38-16.
Swanson and Chris Bush shared game-high scoring honors for the Maroons with 17 points apiece. Hayden Wendling and Nolan Fearday were both in double figures for Effingham, finishing with 13 and 10 points respectively.
In the second game, Charleston outscored the Hearts 20-8 in the fourth quarter to pull away and post the 55-41 win. The Hearts trailed by just two points entering the final eight minutes.
The Trojans held a 23-17 halftime lead, but Wade Bushur and Ethan Jones both scored five points in the third period, helping EHS go on a 16-12 run and close to within 35-33.
Rylan Pals led the Hearts in scoring with 10 points, while KJ Kellams added nine.
The Hearts dropped to 2-22 on the season. They will celebrate Senior Night on Tuesday and play host to Hutsonville.
The Centralia Orphans knocked down 16 three-pointers Wednesday night, en route to a 77-37 victory over Effingham in an opening-round game of the Salem Invitational Tournament.
Michael Organ connected on six shots from behind the arc, while Cruz Harlan made five more, helping the Orphans improve to 20-1 on the season.
The Hearts kept it close in the first quarter. Cannon Bockhorn made two shots from three-point range, helping EHS stay within 14-12. But Organ made three shots from long range and scored 11 points in the second quarter, as Centralia built a 35-22 lead at halftime.
The Orphans then drilled seven more threes in the third quarter, sparking a 33-4 run that widened the gap to 68-26.
Organ finished with 22 points and Harlan added 15.
Bockhorn paced Effingham with 12 points.
The Hearts are now 2-20 for the season. They are scheduled to be back in action at 11 a.m. Saturday. They will face either Champaign Central or Salem.
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