The Effingham Lady Hearts notched their second tournament win Wednesday night, but for the second day in a row, had to rally to do so.

The Lady Hearts trailed 23-18 at halftime, but then outscored Vandalia 26-19 in the second half to post a narrow 44-42 victory and improve to 2-1 in the Bob Kerans Thanksgiving Tournament in Netwton.

Effingham went on a 14-6 surge in the third period to take 32-29 lead.

“And, somehow, we battled and found a way to win,” said EHS coach Jeff Schafer.

Hayley Diveley led the EHS scoring attack with 14 points and Taylor Armstrong added 12.

The Lady Hearts will complete their tournament play Friday with a 1:30 p.m. game against Newton.

The Effingham Lady Hearts turned in a strong second half performance Tuesday, rallying from a halftime deficit to post a 53-38 victory over Flora in their second game of the Bob Kerans Thanksgiving Tournament in Newton.

Flora held a 28-21 advantage at halftime, but the Lady Hearts erased that, outscoring the Wolfgals 32-10 in the second half.

“This was a tale of two halves,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “I give our kids a lot of credit. They hung in there after going through a tough first half. Our defense was awful in the first half, but we really got after it in the second half. We have to learn to play four quarters.”

Ella Niebrugge and Taylor Armstrong helped keep EHS within striking distance in the opening half and then Katie Carie, Callie Feldhake and Annie Frost sparked the second half comeback.

“We got contributions from just about everyone in the second half,” Schafer noted.

Niebrugge, Armstrong and Feldhake each scored 11 points to pace the Lady Hearts, while Frost scored 9 and Carie added 8.

Effingham, now 1-1 in the tourney and 2-1 overall, will return to action tonight (Wednesday). The Lady Hearts will face Vandalia at 6:30 p.m. They will play their final tourney game at 1:30 Friday against Newton.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

Who says football players can’t quickly transition from the gridiron to the basketball court?

The Effingham Hearts, with three members of their record-setting football squad in the starting lineup, proved it can be done.

The Hearts never trailed, built a double-digit lead in the first eight minutes and rolled to a 73-38 victory over Highland in the second of three games Tuesday night at the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament.

And they accomplished that after just one practice.

“I’ve never had a team start the season after just one practice, but that’s all we had,” said EHS coach Obie Farmer, who was also an assistant coach for the EHS football team that just saw its season come to a close Saturday in the semifinals of the Class 4A Playoffs.

“We put in a couple offenses pretty quickly; just basic stuff,” Farmer noted. “We have some guys returning that know the system, which helps. But for this week, we’re just going to let the kids be athletes; be basketball players. We’ll start working on things in more detail next week.”

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Allyson Hardiek and Brooke Runge both scored six points in the fourth quarter Monday night, helping the Altamont Lady Indians pull away, en route to a 63-46 victory over Effingham in an opening-round game of the Bob Kerans Thanksgiving Tournament in Newton.

The Lady Indians held a slim 11-10 lead after the opening period and expanded it to 30-22 by halftime. Hayley Diveley hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter to keep the Lady Hearts within striking distance.

Effingham made five threes in the third period – three by Ella Niebrugge and one each by Taylor Armstrong and Katie Carie – to close within 47-41 heading into the fourth quarter. But the final eight minutes belonged to the Lady Indians, as they outscored the Lady Hearts 16-5.

Hardiek finished with 19 points, while Runge added 15 for Altamont. Niebrugge paced EHS with 15 points and Armstrong scored 11.

Effingham, now 1-1 on the season, will return to tournament action today (Tuesday), facing Flora at 6 p.m. Altamont will play Newton at 7:30 p.m.

The Lady Hearts will also play at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday against Vandalia and then wrap up tournament play against Newton at 1:30 p.m. Friday.