GIRLS BASKETBALL: Carterville pulls away from injury-plagued Lady Indians
Du Quoin girls basketball coach Shawn File might want to check with the Indian football program to see if his team can borrow some pads and helmets for the remainder of the 2015-16 season.
Just five days after Katie Smith received stitches after a collision with teammate Hannah Baxter - who lost a tooth in the incident - Smith took another tumble in Tuesday night's junior varsity game, resulting in another trip to the hospital. For more stitches.
Baxter also returned to action in the junior varsity game on Tuesday, but took a hit on her head and sat out the varsity contest.
"Every game it seems like it's another one," File said after the Lady Indians fell 65-32 at home to Carterville on Tuesday night.
"I'm so proud of the way they've competed, they've played hard. I think if you compete hard and go as hard as you can all the time, eventually all of that is going to turn into good things."
DHS also played without Tarynn Mays, who File said he hasn't ruled out of Thursday's game with Benton yet, but that it's more likely she returns after the Lady Indians' 11-day break that follows.
"We're going to take some time off to try and recover a little bit," said File.
Du Quoin had the lead at 12-11 early in the second quarter when Chloe Hill sank a three-pointer, but were absolutely dominated by the Lady Lions from there.
Kate Smith's three with 2:13 to go in the first half left Du Quoin down by six, but Carterville closed out the half with six straight points to take a 30-18 lead into the break.
"I really thought we played pretty well, I was not disappointed with the way that we played at all," said File. "We just get to those moments where it just seems like the basket is the size of a thimble, and we can not force it in. Carterville's a very good team, they finish so well around the basket. Their three guards as as good as any three guards in the state."
"Part of it is frustration, we can't do some of the things we want to do. We're working as hard as we can, we're trying to get better every single night out, trying to take something from it."
The Lady Lions were already up 32-20 in the third period when they exploded for a 27-4 run that extended well into the fourth quarter.
Mackenzie Jackson's 10 points led Du Quoin, Hill added 6, Sadie Day 5, Alaina Caldwell 4, Kate Smith 3, and Kat Robison and Jordyn Bullar each scored 2.
Megan Barrett led three Lady Lions in double figures with 19 points. Avery English had 16 points, Maddi Meyer finished with 11.
The Lady Indians (8-14, 1-5) host the 17-1 Benton Rangerettes on Thursday night at DHS.