Rios changed his defensive scheme for this game and it worked.

“Last time, we played man-to-man and it wasn’t successful,” the St. Anthony coach explained. “There were a couple matchups we struggled with. So, we wanted to give them a different look and hope their shooters couldn’t get going. We went with a 1-3-1 zone and alternated between halfcourt and three-quarter court. I think it made a difference.”

The Lady Hearts struggled shooting the ball the entire game. They made only 12-of-62 attempts, an icy 19 percent clip. That included making only 7-of-33 shots from behind the arc.

“Give them all the credit,” Schafer said. “They changed defenses on us and we couldn’t make shots. They were the aggressors. They bounced back from that earlier game and evened the score.”

Schafer thought his team had a chance to take control during the first five minutes of the game. Alyssa Martin hit two short jumpers and both Saige Althoff and Averie Wolfe connected from three-point range. And when Bria Beals knocked down a jumper, Effingham owned a 12-5 lead five minutes into the contest.

“I thought we had a chance to possibly build a double-digit lead,” Schafer noted. “But we didn’t move the ball well. We didn’t get the ball to the right spots. We didn’t make good decisions and that’s not natural for this team.”

And from that point on, it didn’t make a whole lot of difference what spot they were in, the Lady Hearts couldn’t make shots. From the 3:04 mark of the opening quarter until the end of the first half – 11 minutes -- they made just one shot. They missed their final four attempts of the first period and then made just 1-of-13 in the second quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs weren’t shooting a whole lot better, but good enough. They scored the final six points of the opening quarter and then got a bucket from Addie Lauritzen to grab a 13-12 lead. Wolfe put EHS back on top with her second three, but that was the final time the Lady Hearts were ahead.

Lilly Gannaway, Ady Rios and Nancy Ruholl each scored to close out the first half, sending SAHS to the locker room with a 19-15 edge.

Things didn’t improve for the Lady Hearts. They made only 2-of-15 shots in the third period. Meanwhile, Rios nailed a pair of attempts from long range and Ruholl added another three, helping the Lady Bulldogs build a 10-point margin, 32-22, heading into the final eight minutes.

Effingham was unable to make a serious charge. Gannaway scored six points and Addi Nuxoll hit a pair of clutch jumpers, helping St. Anthony maintain a lead of between 9 and 12 points most of the way. A three-pointer by Bella Austin made it a seven-point gap, 44-37, but there were less than 40 seconds to play.

“Collectively, I thought our whole team played really well in that second half,” Rios said. “Ady (Rios) and Lilly made some big shots and everybody played well down the stretch. Like I said, this is a big win for us.”

Wolfe and Martin finished in double figures for the Lady Hearts, scoring 14 and 10 points respectively.

Ruholl paced the Lady Bulldogs with a game-high 17 points, but Gannaway, Rios and Nuxoll each scored eight and Lauritzen added six to provide a balanced scoring attack. The team made 17-of-42 shots overall, a 40 percent clip. They were 3-for-8 from long range and 10-of-16 from the foul line.

SAHS also owned a 37-26 rebounding advantage. Ruholl, Nuxoll and Lauritzen each had eight rebounds.

“We have worked our tails off on the boards,” Rios noted. “We preach rebounding. We know we have to keep the other team off the glass. Successful teams rebound the basketball. That has helped us tremendously.”

The Lady Hearts dipped to 11-3 for the season. They were scheduled to play Charleston later Friday afternoon. They will then play two games Saturday.

The Lady Bulldogs improved to 12-2 on the season. They will face the winner of Pool B at 1 p.m. Saturday – either Teutopolis or Marion. The winner of that game will play for the tournament championship at 6 p.m. Saturday. Both of those games will be at Charleston High School.

If St. Anthony would lose the pool final Saturday, they will play for third place at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mattoon High School.