Not many basketball teams can be shut out for an entire quarter and still come away with a victory.
But the Effingham girls proved it can be done.
The Lady Hearts were blanked during the second quarter Saturday afternoon. In fact, they went nearly 12 minutes without denting the scoreboard.
But when the final horn sounded, the EHS girls had posted a 40-35 victory at Mattoon.
The Lady Hearts got seven first-quarter points from Meredith Schaefer and built a slim 9-8 lead. But they didn’t score again until the third quarter. By then, the Lady Green Wave had built a 17-9 halftime lead.
Ella Niebrugge knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to help Effingham surge back and tie the game at 21-21. But Mattoon scored the final four points of the period to take a 25-21 advantage into the final eight minutes.
That’s when Taylor Armstrong came alive. The senior post player poured in 11 points, including 5-of-6 from the foul stripe, during the fourth quarter and helped the Lady Hearts outscore the hosts 19-10 and come away with the Apollo Conference victory.
“We went quite a while without scoring, but the girls stayed the course,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “Our girls hung in there, took the lead with about three minutes left and never gave it up.
“It was a total team effort,” Schafer added. “Everyone did something to help us pull this out. I’m very proud of the way we played.”
Armstrong finished with a team-high 13 points and Niebrugge added 12. Both Armstrong and Schaefer pulled down seven rebounds.
Effingham, now 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in conference play, will be in each action three times this week and all three are conference games and are at home – Monday night against Teutopolis; Thursday against Lincoln; and Saturday against Charleston.
The 2020-2021 basketball season is only one week old, but Effingham coach Obie Farmer is a little concerned with a trend he’s seeing.
The Hearts seem to get off to a great start, but then ease up and don’t put their opponent away.
Earlier in the week, Effingham built a 22-point halftime lead at Mattoon. But they didn’t play with the same intensity in the second half and finished with a 22-point win.
Friday night was a repeat performance.
The Hearts built a 21-point bulge by intermission, but again, didn’t possess that killer instinct in the second half. Taylorville managed to get within 13 points at one time before EHS secured the 69-52 victory.
“We seem to be happy with the lead and then just let the other team hang around,” Farmer noted. “We got the lead by attacking the basket and rebounding well. We need to keep playing like that the entire game.”
The Effingham Hearts were ready for Mattoon’s 2-3 zone defense.
That’s what the Green Wave always play. And that’s what EHS had practice and prepared for.
But Mattoon greeted the Hearts with a man-to-man defense Tuesday night.
Yes, it took a few minutes to adjust. But once the adjustment period was over, Effingham was off and running.
The Hearts built an early double-digit lead and then rolled to a 78-56 road victory in their Apollo Conference opener.
“Typically, Mattoon runs that 2-3 zone. They live and die with that,” EHS coach Obie Farmer said. “We didn’t even practice against anything else. But sure enough, they came out and ran the man-to-man.”
Farmer said it took about five minutes, “but we made the adjustments and figured it out.”
After eight minutes, the Hearts were on top 17-7 and then built the lead to 22 points, 44-22, at intermission.
“We were able to get in transition and they had a hard time keeping up with us,” Farmer noted. “A lot of our offense wasn’t actually from running an offense. We’d get a rebound and just take off. We were able to get behind them and get several layups.”
The Effingham Lady Hearts had a tough night offensively, but made up for it on the defensive end.
The Lady Hearts held Taylorville to just 20 percent shooting, en route to posting a 39-25 Apollo Conference victory on the road.
“We played incredible defense in the game and that gave us a chance to win on a tough offensive night,” said EHS coach Jeff Schafer. “It was a good win for us.”
The Lady Tornadoes only cracked double figures in one quarter and that was with 10 points in the second period. They scored just 4, 8 and 3 in the others.
Effingham held a slim 17-14 edge at halftime, but then began to pull away in the second half. The Lady Hearts increased their lead to 30-22 after three periods and then outscored the Lady Tornadoes 9-3 in the final eight minutes to finish with the 14-point win.
Taylor Armstrong led Effingham with 10 points and Ella Niebrugge added 8. Annie Frost pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Lady Hearts, now 1-1 on the season, will hit the road again Saturday, traveling to Mattoon. They will then play their home opener Monday against Teutopolis.
The Effingham Lady Hearts put together an impressive fourth quarter rally, but Paris still managed to come away with a 45-40 victory at home Monday night.
The host Lady Tigers held a 39-31 lead heading into the final eight minutes, but the Lady Hearts scored the first eight points of the quarter to tie the game. Madison Mapes knocked down a 3-pointer, Annie Frost scored three points and Sawyer Althoff made a pair a free throws, helping EHS knot the score at 39-39.
Paris, however, went on a 6-1 scoring run down the stretch to pull out the five-point win.
The Lady Tigers led 10-5 after the first period and 23-20 at halftime.
Frost led the Lady Hearts with 11 points, while Meredith Schaefer scored nine, Ella Niebrugge seven and Taylor Armstrong six.
Paris’ Madyson Rigdon led all scorers with 18 points.
It was the season opener for Effingham. The Lady Hearts will play two more road games this week. They will play Thursday at Taylorville and Saturday at Mattoon.
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