Prep Girls Hoops: Hobbs' hot hand leads Harrisburg to win at Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic
Newcomer Benton made their presence known Saturday at the first day of the Eldorado Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic, while Carmi-White County, Harrisburg and Vienna all earned wins.
In the opener at Duff-Kingston Gymnasium, Carmi-White County knocked off Goreville 62-42, while Benton handled Fairfield 52-27. In the afternoon, Harrisburg got by Gallatin County 69-39 and Vienna picked up a 46-40 win over Eldorado.
Carmi-White County 62, Goreville 42
Abby Vaughn had a game-high 27 points for Carmi-White County, while Shaelyn Perkins tacked on 12 to finish in double digits as the Bulldogs beat Goreville by 20.
Goreville put three players in double figures as Schyler Messmer had a team-high 14 points, while Tehya Payne and Stoat both had 10 points for the Blackcats.
Goreville 07 11 11 13 - 42
Carmi-White Co. 20 17 09 16 - 62
Goreville: Messmer 4 3-6 14, Pulley 1 0-0 2, Tripp 1 0-0 3, Elms 1 0-4 2, Stoat 3 1-2 10, Luke 0 1-2 1, Payne 4 2-2 10. Totals: 14 8-16 42.
Carmi-White Co.: Combs 0 2-6 2, Edwards 1 0-0 2, Perkins 3 5-6 12, Vaughn 11 5-6 27, Lexi Wheeler 1 0-0 2, Lixi Wheeler 4 0-2 8, Winter 4 0-0 9. Totals: 24 12-20 62
3-point FG: GHS 6 (Stoat 3, Messmer 2, Tripp), CWC 2 (Perkins, Winter). Fouls: GHS 15, CWC 12.
Benton 52, Fairfield 27
Benton, new to the Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic, and one of the top girls' teams in southern Illinois this season won easily over Black Diamond Conference opponent Fairfield as the Rangerettes put two players in double figures, including a game-high 16 points from Ally Gischer and another 12 points Makala Abney as Benton prevailed.
Sloan complimented his team's defensive effort, which held Goreville to single digits in the first three quarters.
"We watched them at Hamilton County, who plays pretty good defense and Fairfield put up 50 against them the other night," Sloan said. "That was a big concern of ours coming in, but I felt like we locked them down and didn't shoot very well in the first half. I thought we took advantage of that and got the ball inside to our big kids and that's when we were at our best."
Fairfield 02 04 09 12 - 27
Benton 12 13 06 21 - 52
Fairfield: Vaughan 1 0-0 3, Conrad 2 2-4 6, Martinez 2 1-2 5, Walker 1 0-0 2, Shreve 2 0-0 5, Newman 0 5-6 5, Neuman 0 1-2 1. Totals: 8 9-14 27.
Benton: Casey 1 0-0 3, Milby 1 0-0 3, Mosley 1 0-0 3, Gischer 5 3-3 16, Wilcox 0 2-4 2), Pedigo 3 0-2 6, Jerkins 1 0-0 2, M. Abney 6 0-0 12, A. Abney 1 3-6 5. Totals: 19 8-15 52.
3-point FG: FHS 2 (Vaughan, Walker), Benton 6 (Gischer 3, Casey, Dowdy, Mosley). Fouls: FHS 12, Benton 15.
Harrisburg 69, Gallatin County 39
Harrisburg senior guard Kelsey Hoobs, who earlier in the season went over the 1,000th point plateau, scored a Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic Day 1-high 29 points to lead Harrisburg to the 30-point win over Gallatin County.
Alexa Burtis, who also went over the 1,000th point mark for Harrisburg as well, tacked on 11 points for the Bulldogs.
Burtis returned the lineup for her second straight game after missing the first part of the 2016 year with a foot injury. A full compliment of players for Harrisburg head coach Jake Stewart - if nothing else - gives him more depth.
"Right now we are eight, nine, maybe 10 deep on our rotations, so when we play other teams, we're trying to wear them down and I thought we did a really good job of that."
Hailey Chubb had 23 points in the loss for Gallatin County, who outscored Harrisburg 17-16 in the first quarter, but then trailed 33-24 at the break after being outscored 17-7 by the Bulldogs.
"We played a good first half," Gallatin County head coach Robert Patton said. "With 50 seconds to go in the first half, we are down two points and Harrisburg made a little 7-0 run to take the momentum away from us and then in the third quarter, they had a 9-0 run and put the ballgame away."
Gallatin County 17 07 05 10 - 39
Harrisburg 16 17 16 20 - 69
Gallatin County: Smith 2 1-4 5, Roderick 0 3-4 3, Turner 1 1-4 5, Chubb 6 11-10 23, Ahrens 0 1-2 1, McGuire 0 2-2 2. Totals: 10 18-27 39.
Harrisburg: Bartok 1 1-2 3, Burtis 4 3-4 11, Hawkins 2 5-2 6, Miller 3 0-0 6, Hobs 11 4-7 29, Crisp 0 2-2 2, Robinson 1 2-2 4, Davis 3 0-0 8. Totals: 25 14-22 69.
3-point FG: GCHS 1 (Chubb), HBG 5 (Hobbs 3, Davis 2). Fouls: GCHS 16, HBG 21.
Vienna 46, Eldorado 40
Natalie and Hayleigh Keeling teamed up for 27 points, helping Vienna to a 46-40 win over Eldorado Saturday in the final game of the Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic.
Natalie Keeling had a team-high 15 points, while Hayleigh tacked on 12 for the Eagles as they outscored Eldorado 22-15 in the final eight minutes of the game for the come-from-behind win.
Vienna trailed 9-6 after the first quarter and trailed 20-16 at halftime as Abby Steed and Derian Corn each had four points a piece for Eldorado.
The Eagles then led 25-24 going into the fourth, but in the final period, Vienna made 10-of-16 free throws down the stretch for the win.
Steed led Eldorado with a game-high 17 points as was the lone player to score in double figures for the Eagles.
Ame Whitlock served as head coach for Eldorado, subbing for Scott Artman and said that a better control of tempo could have prevented a loss for the Eagles.
"We played a really good game for the most part shutting down Keeling, especially in the first half and then got into some foul trouble in the second half. I think if we take out some of those long passes that we got a little wild with, we take those out and it's a closer game than it was."
Vienna 06 10 08 22 - 46
Eldorado 09 11 15 15 - 40
Vienna: H. Keeling 5 1-2 12, Bullock 1 0-0 2, Jones 2 0-2 4, Cowsert 1 0-0 2, N. Keeling 2 11-12 15, Kindhart 1 2-4 4, Rice 0 0-1 0, Holhubner 2 3-4 7. Totals: 14 17-26 46.
Eldorado: C. Stafford 0 2-4 2, Steed 7 3-5 17, T. Britton 2 1-2 5, Corn 2 2-2 6, Newton 3 0-1 6, R. Stafford 1 0-0 3, Parker 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 9-16 40.
3-point FG: VHS 1 (H. Keeling), EHS 1 (Stafford). Fouls: VHS 17, EHS 25.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.