The Taylorville Lady Tornadoes remained undefeated in Apollo Conference play, but it didn’t come easy.

Taylorville built a double-digit lead early and then withstood a strong challenge from the Effingham Lady Hearts to come away with a 54-41 win at home Tuesday night.

The hosts lit it up from behind the arc in the opening eight minutes. Addison Tarr connected on three shots from long range and Aubrey Kietzman and Kyleigh Heimsness both added a pair of three-pointers, helping the Lady Tornadoes build a 21-9 lead.

The Lady Hearts then outscored Taylorville 11-5 in the second period to close the gap to 26-20 at halftime. It was still a six-point margin, 37-31, heading into the final quarter. The Lady Tornadoes then made 6-of-10 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Tarr finished with a game-high 20 points to lead Taylorville, who improved to 16-3 on the season and 6-0 in conference play.

Bria Beals led Effingham with 12 points.

The Lady Hearts are now 16-4 on the season and 3-3 in the Apollo. They will travel to Paris on Thursday night.

Robinson jumped out to a quick double-digit lead and maintained that throughout the game, en route to a 57-40 win at home Saturday over Effingham.

The Maroons led by 15 points in the opening period and owned an 18-5 advantage at the end of the first eight minutes. It was 29-15 at halftime and 39-28 heading into the fourth period.

“We got down 15 quick, then we played steady the rest of the game,” said EHS coach Obie Farmer. “I thought we played decent for three quarters, but we still struggle to score.”

Robinson’s Noah Gilbert led all scorers with 18 points, while Owen Schmidt added 14. Hayden Wendling led EHS with nine points.

The Hearts are now 2-16 on the season. They will travel to Newton on Tuesday.

The Newton Eagles jumped out to a 16-4 lead Tuesday night and went on to defeat Effingham, 66-52.

The host Eagles increased their lead to 34-16 at halftime.

Caden Nichols led Newton with 27 points and topped the 1,000-point plateau in the process. Dylan Gier added 17, as the Eagles improved to 13-5 on the season.

The Hearts had two players in double figures. KJ Kellams scored 12 points and Hayden Wendling had 11.

The Hearts are now 2-17 on the season. They will travel to Taylorville on Thursday night.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

Less than five minutes into the game, Jeff Schafer had a decision to make.

Stay with his game plan or make a switch.

He decided to stick with the game plan.

As it turns out, he chose wisely.

A zone defense designed to help offset Mt. Zion’s height advantage proved effective the entire game. And a strong offensive performance in the final eight minutes helped the Effingham Lady Hearts gain control and come away with a big 43-33 Apollo Conference victory at home Saturday afternoon.

With 6’ Denver Anderson and 6’3” Jocelyn Turner anchoring Mt. Zion’s lineup, Schafer knew he needed to do something defensively to contain them.

“Our goal was to sandwich the big girl (Turner) and also cover the high post (Anderson),” Schafer explained. “We worked on it this week in practice and I thought they ran it to a ‘T’. The girls did such a good job today. I’m really proud of them.”

But at the 3:17 mark of the opening period, Turner had hit a short jumper, Anderson had turned an EHS turnover into a basket and Maddie Kendall had knocked down a long three, helping the Lady Braves to an early 9-4 lead.

“I thought about changing defenses,” Schafer admitted. “Things hadn’t started very well, but I remembered the game last year. We tried playing them man-to-man and that didn’t work out very well. So, I decided to stick to my guns.”

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