The Effingham Lady Hearts used a strong second half to pull away and post a 45-33 victory at home Monday night over Lincoln.
The Lady Railsplitters sophomore standout Kloe Froebe was out with an injury and the Lady Hearts took advantage.
EHS held a slim 20-19 edge at halftime, but then outscored their guests 25-14 in the final 16 minutes to notch their 18th win of the season.
Ella Niebrugge knocked down a three and scored five points and Madison Mapes added four more, sparking Effingham to a 13-7 run in the third period that expanded the lead to 33-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
Marissa Allie came up big, scoring seven points, including a three-point play, as the Lady Hearts closed out the game on a 12-7 surge to seal the win.
Meredith Schaefer connected on five threes in the game and led the Lady Hearts with 15 points. Niebrugge finished with nine and Allie added eight.
The Lady Hearts improved to 18-10 on the season and 5-6 in the Apollo Conference. They have two more games this week to close out their regular season – Wednesday at home against Olney; and Thursday at Mt. Zion.
Monday night’s game at home against Mattoon will go in the “one that got away” category.
The Effingham Hearts held a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t make it stand up.
The Green Wave responded with an 11-0 run and then got what proved to be the game-winning basket from Blaine Powers with 24 seconds to play to complete their comeback and post a 41-39 win.
“We had a couple ill-advised shots and got rushed a little in that fourth quarter,” EHS coach Obie Farmer said. “We just didn’t finish the game. Tonight’s game proves that every possession counts.”
After Garrett Wolfe hit a three-pointer early in the final period, the Hearts owned a 36-26 advantage. But that’s when Mattoon began it’s comeback. Gage Thompson hit two three-pointers – his only points of the game -- to spark the scoring spree. His second three knotted the game at 36-36.
A free throw by Cooper Bergstrom put the Green Wave on top, but Wolfe responded with a three-point play that put Effingham back ahead, 39-37, with 2:40 to play. Christian Larson then hit a pair of foul shots 90 seconds later to tie the game again.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Nobody expected a close game and it wasn’t.
The Effingham Lady Hearts used a 20-0 first-half run to open a big lead and coasted to a 51-13 victory at home Tuesday night over a Charleston team that has just one win in 22 games.
But it was also Senior Night and a chance to recognize the four seniors on this year’s squad.
“These seniors were freshmen when we had the super sectional team,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “These girls have just continued to improve all four years.
“They are great citizens besides what they do in basketball,” Schafer added. “They’re great kids. They’re coachable and they’re unselfish. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
It was fitting that a senior – Sawyer Althoff – scored the first basket of the game. Fellow seniors – Meredith Schaefer, Coralin Ohnesorge and Krista Phillips – also saw plenty of playing time and each one scored. In fact, the four seniors combined to score 29 of the team’s points (Althoff 6, Schaeffer 10, Ohnesorge 7 and Phillips 6).
Four minutes into the contest, the Lady Hearts owned a 6-2 lead. The next time the Lady Trojans scored, they were down 24 points.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
In most basketball games, there is a spurt or two that generally determines the outcome.
Effingham was in one of those games Saturday afternoon.
Mahomet-Seymour used the final 76 seconds of the first half and a four-minute stretch in the final quarter to their benefit, outscoring the Hearts 25-2.
The Bulldogs needed that to overcome a strong third-quarter burst by Effingham.
In the end, however, that fourth-quarter surge helped Mahomet-Seymour come away with a 54-41 Apollo Conference road victory.
“These kids are going to play hard all the time,” EHS coach Obie Farmer said. “We just didn’t make enough plays or hit enough shots at the end to pull this one out.”
The fact it was a close game two minutes into the fourth period is a testament to the Hearts – especially after the first half.
They shot miserably, making only 3-of-20 shots and scoring just nine points.
“I felt like we had our opportunities in that first half,” Farmer noted. “We had good shots. They weren’t rushed or ill-advised. We just didn’t make them.”
Yet, after Garrett Wolfe made a three-pointer at the 1:16 mark of the second quarter, the home team was surprisingly only down three points, 12-9.
But over the final 76 seconds, the Bulldogs got a three from Dayten Eisenmann and then converted two quick turnovers into baskets by Carter Selk and Luke Koller to take a double-digit cushion, 19-9, into the locker room at intermission.
The third quarter has proven to be a challenge all season long for the Effingham Flaming Hearts.
That was the case again Monday night.
The Hearts trailed Lincoln by a single point at halftime, but were then outscored 13-3 in the third period and ended up dropping a 42-31 decision at home to Lincoln.
The Railsplitters held a 10-6 lead after the opening eight minutes and then had a slim 15-14 edge at intermission. Elijah Pollice then scored eight of his game-high 19 points in the third quarter, helping Lincoln to expand the gap to double-digits, 28-17.
Garrett Wolfe knocked down a pair of three-pointers and scored eight points in the fourth quarter, but EHS wasn’t able to cut into the lead. Both teams scored 14 points in the final period.
Wolfe finished with 16 points for the Hearts and Logan Heil added nine.
The Hearts dipped to 9-14 on the season overall and 1-6 in the Apollo Conference. They will play two more games at home this week – Thursday against Mattoon and Saturday against Mahomet-Seymour.
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