Basketball

The Teutopolis Lady Shoes opened play in the 35^th annual Apex Network Physical Therapy Highland Girls Basketball Tournament in impressive style Saturday afternoon.

After a bit of a slow start, the Lady Shoes kicked it into gear the middle two quarters, en route to a 59-24 win over Collinsville.

T-Town will now advance in the winner’s bracket and play again at 8:30 p.m. Monday. The Lady Shoes will face either O’Fallon or Hillsboro.

After eight minutes of play against Collinsville, THS held a slim 14-9 lead. But by halftime, the Lady Shoes had a double-digit lead, 32-15, and then put the game away with a big third quarter, expanding the margin to 55-20. In those middle two quarters, Teutopolis outscored the Lady Cahoks 41-11.

T-Town had three players in double figures. Kaitlyn Schumacher led the way with 18 points, while Kaylee Niebrugge scored 11 and Zoe Cremens added 10. Emily Konkel and Schumacher led the team with six rebounds and Izzy Hardiek had four assists.

The Lady Shoes improved to 12-5 on the season.

The Teutopolis Lady Shoes will compete in the 35^th annual Apex Network Physical Therapy Girls Basketball Tournament in Highland.

The tournament, which will feature 16 teams, will begin Saturday, Jan. 15. Games will continue on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, Jan. 17-22.

The Lady Shoes are seeded fifth overall. Okawville is the No. 1 seed and Civic Memorial is seeded second.

Teutopolis will open play at 1 p.m. on Saturday against No. 12 Collinsville. If the Lady Shoes win, they will next play at 8:30 p.m. Monday. If they lose, they will be in action at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Here is the schedule for the opening-round games on Saturday:

Game 1 – 10 a.m. – Okawville (1) vs. Salem (16)

Game 2 – 11:30 a.m. – Triad (8) vs. Belleville West (9)

Game 3 – 1 p.m. – Teutopolis (5) vs. Collinsville (12)

Game 4 – 2:30 p.m. – O’Fallon (4) vs. Hillsboro (13)

Game 5 – 4 p.m. – Civic Memorial (2) vs. Belleville East (15)

Game 6 – 5:30 p.m. – Nashville (7) vs. Breese Central (10)

Game 7 – 7 p.m. – Alton (3) vs. Highland (14)

Game 8 – 8:30 p.m. – Breese Mater Dei (6) vs. Taylorville (11)

Olivia Durbin knocked down a pair of three-pointers and scored eight fourth-quarter points, and Aubree Wallace made four straight free throws, helping Bethalto Civic Memorial post a 50-45 victory at home Monday night over the Teutopolis Lady Shoes.

The Lady Eagles trailed 31-30 heading into the final eight minutes, but then outscored T-Town 20-14 to improve to 12-3 on the season.

The Lady Shoes, who are now in the toughest part of their schedule, battled hard throughout. They trailed 12-8 after the first period and 23-16 at halftime, but then outscored Civic Memorial 15-7 in the third quarter to go on top, 31-30.

Kaitlyn Schumacher had a big game for THS, turning in a double-double. She scored 15 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Kaylee Niebrugge also had 15 points and Izzy Hardiek added 12.

The Lady Shoes dropped to 11-5 on the season. They will now compete in the 35^th annual Highland Girls Basketball Tournament. They are seeded fifth overall and open against Collinsville on Saturday. That game is scheduled for 1 p.m. If they win that game, they will face either O’Fallon or Hillsboro at 8:30 p.m. Monday. If they lose, they will play at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes used a big second half Tuesday night to post a 54-38 victory at home over St. Joe-Ogden.

The Shoes held a slim 20-18 edge at halftime, but then outscored the Spartans 16-8 in the third quarter and 18-12 in the final eight minutes to come away with the double-digit decision.

Caleb Siemer and Brendan Niebrugge combined to score 38 points for T-Town. Siemer finished with 20 points, to along with six rebounds, and Niebrugge added 18. Max Niebrugge finished with seven assists.

SJO’s Ty Pence, who is being recruited by several Division I schools, was limited to just 11 points.

The Shoes improved to 13-4 on the season. They will face another tough team Saturday afternoon when they host Madison.

It was what you’d expect of a game between two of the state’s top Class 2A basketball teams.

As it turned out, 32 minutes wasn’t enough.

Warrensburg-Latham and Teutopolis battled to the wire Saturday, with the host Cardinals prevailing 66-63 in overtime.

The Shoes jumped out to a 23-12 lead after one quarter of play and still held a double-digit advantage, 37-27, at halftime. But the Cardinals outscored T-Town 14-5 in the third period to get within one, 42-41, and then knotted the game at 56-56 at the end of regulation.

Brendan Niebrugge had a strong game for the Shoes, pumping in a game-high 30 points. That included seven three-pointers. Max Niebrugge scored nine and both James Niebrugge and Caleb Siemer added eight.

The Shoes dipped to 12-4 on the season. They will be back in action Tuesday with a home game against St. Joe-Ogden.