The Effingham freshman and sophomore basketball teams played Thursday night at Salem and split the two games.
The EHS frosh dropped a 64-53 decision, while the Hearts sophomores posted a 53-41 victory.
In the sophomore contest, the Hearts raced to a 24-10 lead after eight minutes. Jett Volpi hit three shots from behind the arc and scored 11 points in the opening period, helping EHS gain the early lead. Volpi finished with 14 points to lead Effingham’s scoring attack.
In the freshman game, Salem led 15-7 after the first period and extended the lead to 31-14 at halftime. Andrew Donaldson and Armando Estrada both scored nine points for the Hearts.
Grant Coleman proved why he’s one of the best players in the Apollo Conference.
The senior forward poured in 30 points, including 10 in the fourth period, helping Mahomet-Seymour post a 71-67 victory at home Tuesday night over Effingham.
The game was close throughout.
The Bulldogs led 18-13 after eight minutes, but the Hearts battled back to tie the game, 32-32, at halftime. Mahomet-Seymour held a slim two-point edge, 53-51, entering the fourth quarter.
Jacob Stoneburner scored all 10 of his points in the final eight minutes, but the Bulldogs went 6-for-6 from the foul line down the stretch to escape with the win.
Effingham had three other players reach double figures as well. Nate Thompson led the scoring attack with 21 points, while Drew Thompson scored 18 and Parker Wolfe added 14.
The Bulldogs improved to 7-6 overall and remained unbeaten in conference play at 3-0.
The Hearts dipped to 9-6 for the season and 2-2 in the Apollo. EHS will play at home Friday night, facing conference foe Mt. Zion. The Hearts will then play Saturday in the St. Anthony Shootout. They will face Casey-Westfield at 3:30 p.m.
The Hearts won the junior varsity game 52-35. They outscored Mahomet-Seymour 27-13 in the second half. Brayden Pals scored 23 points.
Mt. Vernon used a big second quarter to seize the lead and then maintained it throughout, en route to a 55-44 road victory Monday night over the Effingham Lady Hearts.
The score was 14-14 after the opening eight minutes. The Lady Rams then went on an 18-2 scoring run to open the second quarter. The Lady Hearts were hurt by 15 first-half turnovers and trailed 36-21.
Effingham took better care of the basketball in the second half and stepped up its defense as well. Mt. Vernon had difficulty scoring in the third period, but the Lady Hearts weren’t able to take advantage. EHS did outscore the guests 9-5 to close within 41-30.
But the Lady Rams then went on an 8-1 run to open the final eight minutes to go up 49-31. The Lady Hearts had a strong fourth period. Ella Niebrugge hit a pair of threes and scored eight points to help EHS get back to within 11 points at the end.
Mt. Vernon improved to 10-6 with the win. The Lady Rams had three players in double figures, led by Annibelle Harrison’s 13 points. Zana Das scored 11 and Kennady Hayes added 10.
Effingham had eight different players score, led by Callie Feldhake’s 10 points. Niebrugge and Hayley Diveley both added eight.
The Lady Hearts shot 33 percent from the game, connecting on 15-of-45 shots overall. They were 6-for-17 from behind the arc and 8-of-15 from the foul line. EHS finished with 21 turnovers, but held a 33-19 rebounding advantage.
Effingham dipped to 7-8 on the season. The Lady Hearts will be back in action tonight (Tuesday) with an Apollo Conference game at Mahomet-Seymour. EHS will return home Thursday night to play another league game against Lincoln.
The second quarter proved to be the difference.
Mahomet-Seymour outscored Effingham 17-8 during that eight-minute stretch, turning a small deficit into a halftime lead, en route to a 58-48 Apollo Conference victory at home over the Lady Hearts.
Taylor Armstrong and Hayley Diveley both scored six points in the opening quarter, helping EHS to a 17-16 lead after the first eight minutes. But the Lady Hearts were limited to two baskets and eight points in the second period and the Lady Bulldogs took control.
The hosts led 33-25 at halftime and 46-36 after three quarters.
Armstrong finished with 14 points and Diveley added 11 for Effingham.
The Lady Hearts dipped to 7-9 on the season. They will return home Thursday night to face Lincoln in another conference contest.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
For nearly three quarters, the Effingham Lady Hearts gave heavily-favored Sacred Heart Giffin all it wanted.
But when a team misses its first six shots of a game and then its last 12, that generally doesn’t produce a successful result.
Well, that’s exactly what transpired Monday afternoon.
The Lady Hearts simply couldn’t score with any kind of consistency. And tallying only two free throws in the fourth period allowed the Lady Cyclones to pull away and post a 45-25 victory in the third place game of the Charleston Girls Holiday Tournament.
“Our effort was great,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “We played very good defense, we rebounded well and we ran our offense well. We just missed shots; a lot of them.”
Midway through the third period, the Lady Hearts were only three points down, 22-19. But from that point on, they made only 2 of their final 15 shots.
Jillian Hulcher hit a pair of free throws that started a 7-0 run that built SHG’s first double-digit lead, 29-19. Callie Feldhake hit a shot right at the end of the quarter for the Lady Hearts to keep it a 10-point spread, 33-23, heading into the final eight minutes.
Sophie Lowis, an all-tournament selection for the Lady Cyclones, had been held in check for most of the game. But she scored eight straight points to open the final period – six of those coming on SHG’s only two 3-pointers of the game – and the margin ballooned to 18 points, 41-23, at the 4:32 mark.
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