By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
In many basketball games, there is a particular stretch of time that either sets the tone, puts one team in control or even dictates the winner.
For the Effingham Lady Hearts, that was an eight-minute stretch that began with 4:30 left in the second quarter and continued the first 3½ minutes of the third period.
During that time, the Lady Hearts scored 15 unanswered points that turned a one-point deficit into a 14-point lead. That was the catalyst needed to spark them to a 56-44 victory at home Saturday over Mt. Zion
“I’m really pleased that we put two good games together back-to-back,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said, noting his team’s winning effort Thursday against Mahomet-Seymour. “We really started putting things together in that second period and then did exactly what we needed to do to start the third quarter. I was real happy to see that.”
Ashlyn Duncan’s basket at the 4:28 mark of the second quarter put Mt. Zion up 16-15. But the Lady Braves then went into an eight-minute scoring drought.
Madison Mapes put the Lady Hearts ahead to stay with a pair of free throws and then added a basket following a Mt. Zion turnover and later turned in a three-point play to send EHS to the locker room with a 24-16 lead at intermission.
Annie Frost, Sawyer Althoff and Taylor Armstrong each scored to open the second half, expanding Effingham’s margin to 14 points, 30-16. It was a 15-point spread, 38-23, when the third quarter ended.
“We put three or four plays together in a row, which gave us a little cushion,” Schafer noted. “Then we came out and executed really well to start the third quarter. I saw some really good things during that stretch.”
Frost scored nine more points in the final eight minutes and helped the Lady Hearts open their largest lead of the contest, 50-31 with just 3:20 to play. But over those final few minutes, the EHS girls turned the ball over seven times, something Schafer was not pleased with at all.
“We just started going through the motions,” he said. “You have to finish a game. We just let them hang around. I was disappointed in our energy level there at the end. We looked lethargic. I hate to see us play so well and then finish like that.”
Frost led three Lady Hearts in double figures with 15 points. Mapes finished with 13 and Armstrong added 11. Frost, Armstrong and Meredith Schaefer each pulled down seven rebounds to help the team hold a 30-18 advantage on the boards.
Effingham shot 45 percent from the game, connecting on 21-of-47 attempts. The Lady Hearts were 2-for-4 from behind the arc and 12-of-18 from the foul line. They turned the ball over 14 times, with half of those in the final period, while Mt. Zion had 19 turnovers.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Effingham had its worst shooting game of the season.
Meanwhile, Mahomet-Seymour torched the nets for 32 minutes.
Generally, that combination results in a rather lopsided decision.
But as the final seconds ticked off the clock Friday night at EHS, the Hearts had the ball with a chance to win.
Unfortunately, Parker Wolfe’s 17-foot jumper from the wing was just a little off-target and the Bulldogs escaped with a 62-61 win that not only knocked the Hearts from the ranks of the unbeaten, but also shuffled things up in the Apollo Conference.
The Hearts still sit atop the league standings at 7-1, but both Mahomet-Seymour and Lincoln are now close behind with just two losses.
And the Bulldogs can thank red hot shooting for that. The Bulldogs shot a blistering 60 percent overall and were even better from behind arc, knocking down 62 percent of their attempts (8-for-13). And the trio of Eli Warren, Braden Finch and Blake Wolters were even better. That threesome combined to score 49 points and make 70 percent of their shots, including 8-of-12 from three-point range.
“Overall, I thought we guarded their offense pretty well,” a disappointed EHS coach Obie Farmer said following the contest. “But when a team shoots 60 percent with a hand in their face, they’re going to be tough to beat. You saw their shooting stats. Holy cow! That was good shooting.”
Taylorville tried slowing the game way down Tuesday night, but not even that tactic could prevent the Effingham Flaming Hearts from notching their 10th victory and remaining undefeated.
Despite the slowdown, especially in the first half, the Hearts still led throughout, finishing with a 56-43 victory at home.
“They tried to play keep-away a little bit,” EHS coach Obie Farmer said. “They ran two or three minutes off the clock each possession and tried to hold the ball for the last shot a lot. It worked out in our favor, though, because they either ended up taking a bad shot or they turned the ball over and we got layups. It didn’t help them score at all.”
The Tornados were extremely patient in the first half, but Effingham still had a 22-11 advantage at intermission. The pace picked up in the second half, but the Hearts were never seriously threatened.
“It doesn’t matter if we win by 20, 13, 100 or 1. A win is a win,” Farmer said. “Our kids kept their heads in the game and played the way they needed to be successful. They executed well and took care of the ball.”
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Yes, every coach draws up X’s and O’s and expects their players to run those specific plays and either score at one end or prevent a score at the other.
But more often than not, it’s the intangibles they talk about when the game is over. Things like hustle, energy and effort.
Such was the case Thursday night.
Effingham Coach Jeff Schafer did mention specific plays he ran for Annie Frost, Meredith Schaefer and Taylor Armstrong at the offensive end that resulted in key baskets for the Lady Hearts. And he noted how changing to a 2-3 zone seemed to get Mahomet-Seymour out of rhythm.
But he mostly wanted to talk about his team’s intensity.
He believed that was the key to the Lady Hearts’ 48-42 Apollo Conference victory at home – a game almost nobody expected them to win.
He also believes that a lack of intensity was the key to his team’s 51-48 loss just three nights earlier to Taylorville – a game almost nobody expected them to lose.
Haylee Sagle pumped in 20 second half points Monday night, helping the Taylorville Lady Tornados rally and post a 51-48 victory at Effingham.
The Lady Hearts held a double-digit lead in the first half, but Sagle, who had a game-high 27 points, helped Taylorville stage a comeback in the final two quarters to get the Apollo Conference victory.
The first half, however, was a different story. The Lady Hearts got a pair of three-pointers from Meredith Schaefer and built an 18-8 lead after the opening eight minutes and still led 26-17 at intermission.
Taylor Armstrong scored eight points in the third quarter, but the Lady Hearts only had 10 total and Taylorville was able to close to within 36-32. Sagle then tallied 12 points in the final period to help the Lady Tornados complete the comeback.
Armstrong finished with 14 points and Schaefer added 12 for EHS.
The Lady Hearts dropped to 3-6 overall and 3-5 in league play. They are scheduled to play two more home games this week -- Thursday against Mahomet-Seymour and Saturday against Mt. Zion.
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