The Taylorville Tornadoes placed five players in double figures Thursday night, en route to a 67-46 victory at home over Effingham.
Taylorville built an 18-8 lead after the first eight minutes and then outscored the Hearts 26-13 in the second quarter to take a 44-21 lead to the locker room at halftime. It was 59-31 heading into the final period.
Dillon Clark led the Tornadoes with 16 points, while Clark Durbin scored 14, Owen Younker had 13 and both Jake McConnell and Baron Odom added 10.
Cannon Bockhorn, Hayden Wendling and Rylan Pals all had eight points for Effingham.
The Hearts are now 2-18 overall and 1-5 in the Apollo Conference. They will play at Dieterich on Tuesday.
The Effingham Lady Hearts will compete next week in the Vandalia Invitational Basketball Tournament.
There are eight teams in this year’s tournament. In addition to Effingham, Salem (varsity), Mascoutah, Greenville, Wesclin, Centralia, Vandalia and Salem (junior varsity) will compete.
The Lady Hearts are the No. 1 seed.
Games will be played on four days, beginning Monday, Jan. 15, and concluding Saturday, Feb. 20. All games will be played at Vandalia High School.
Here is the schedule.
Monday, Jan. 15
Game 1 – 10 a.m. – Effingham vs. Salem JV
Game 2 – 11:30 a.m. – Salem (varsity) vs. Mascoutah
Game 3 – 1 p.m. – Greenville vs. Wesclin
Game 4 – 2:30 p.m. – Centralia vs. Vandalia.
The Effingham Hearts will compete in the 72nd annual Salem Invitational Basketball Tournament.
The 8-team event will be held January 17-20 at Salem High School.
Every team is guaranteed three games.
In addition to Effingham, Centralia, Champaign Central, Salem, East St. Louis, Carbondale, Mt. Vernon and Charleston are entered this year.
Here is the schedule:
Wednesday, Jan. 17:
Game 1 – 6 p.m. – Centralia vs. Effingham
Game 2 – 7:30 p.m. – Champaign Central vs. Salem
Thursday, Jan. 18:
Game 3 – 6 p.m. – East St. Louis vs. Carbondale
Game 4 – 7:30 p.m. – Mt. Vernon vs. Charleston
Bella Austin made 5-of-6 free throws and scored all seven of her points in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, helping the Effingham Lady Hearts maintain their lead and post a 44-38 victory at Paris.
Effingham led by 10 points at halftime, 24-14, but the hosts made a second half comeback. The Lady Tigers trimmed the gap to 29-24 after three quarters and then scored 14 points in the final eight minutes. But Austin came through down the stretch and Bria Beals knocked down a key three-pointer, helping the Lady Hearts secure the win.
Averie Wolfe connected on three shots from behind the arc and scored 13 points – all in the first half – to lead the EHS scoring attack. Austin and Sidney Donaldson both scored seven.
The Lady Hearts are now 17-4 on the season. They will open play in the Vandalia Tournament Monday.
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.
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