It was a tale of two halves.
The Lincoln Lady Railsplitters torched the nets from long range in the first half and built a 26-point lead.
Effingham then responded with a furious rally in the final two quarters, but the deficit proved too much to make up, as the Lady Hearts dropped a 49-40 decision at home Thursday night.
Kloe Froebe and Ryen Stoltzenburg combined to knock down nine 3-pointers in the first 16 minutes. Froebe had five and scored 23 points and Stoltzenburg added four from behind the arc and netted 12. At halftime, Lincoln had a seemingly comfortable 41-15 advantage.
To the Lady Hearts credit, they didn’t give up. They outscored the Lady Railsplitters 11-4 in the third period and 14-4 in the final eight minutes to close the gap considerably.
Froebe had six of Lincoln’s eight second-half points and finished with 29. Stoltzenbrug didn’t score in the second half.
Annie Frost led Effingham with 17 points and Ella Niebrugge scored nine.
The Lady Hearts dipped to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in the Apollo Conference. They will return to action Saturday with a home game against Charleston and then travel to Mahomet-Seymour on Monday.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Everybody knows about Effingham’s one-two punch of Nate Thompson and Parker Wolfe.
The pair of seniors are both averaging over 20 points and present defensive challenges for opposing coaches.
And while both had good games Tuesday night, it was the supporting cast that made the difference.
Garrett Wolfe, Dalton Fox and Jacob Stoneburner combined to score 26 points and grab 11 rebounds and help the Effingham Flaming Hearts post a 68-54 Apollo Conference victory at home over rival Teutopolis.
“That was a big one,” EHS coach Obie Farmer said. “Our two teams match up pretty well. They can shoot and score, and they play hard and do stuff the right way. They’re similar to us.”
The third quarter proved to be key. The Hearts held a 34-29 halftime edge and then came out and took control in the first three minutes of the second half. Garrett Wolfe scored five points, Stoneburner knocked down his third 3-pointer of the game and Thompson capped the 12-1 scoring run with a pair of free throws, extending the EHS lead to 46-30.
It was 54-41 heading into the final eight minutes. A basket by Max Niebrugge trimmed the lead to 11 to open the fourth quarter, but the Shoes were unable to get any closer. Fox drained a big three and Parker Wolfe went 4-for-4 from the foul stripe to keep the Hearts comfortably in front.
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.
Effingham’s one-two punch was at it again Saturday afternoon.
Parker Wolfe and Nate Thompson combined to score more points than the opponent, as they torched the nets for 53 in the Hearts’ 74-49 victory at Casey-Westfield.
“They’re tough to contain,” said EHS coach Obie Farmer. “Nate was really efficient, especially from the three-point line, and Parker just keeps doing his thing.”
And in the second half, that “thing” was pretty much playing with just one eye. Just a few seconds before intermission, he split his eyebrow open while going for a loose ball.
“He played the entire second half with one eye okay and a piece of gauze over the other eye,” Farmer noted. “You just can’t keep him out of the game.”
He still scored 13 of his game-high 27 points in the final two periods, while Thompson, who connected on 5 of the team’s 10 three-pointers, poured in 20 of his 26 after intermission.
The Hearts were in control from the beginning. Casey-Westfield was playing its first game of the season and it showed. While the Warriors were having difficulty scoring, Effingham just continued to increase its lead.
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.”
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