GIRLS BASKETBALL: Early run carries PCHS past DHS at Herrin tourney

An early 16-0 run for Pinckneyville carried the Lady Panthers past the Lady Indians 47-34 on Saturday night at the Herrin Holiday Hoops tournament, leaving both teams 1-1 after one day of action.

Sadie Day scored the game's first points - and her only points - for Du Quoin, but then PCHS's Andrea Morgan fired in a three-pointer to spark the big run for the Lady Panthers. Five different players contributed to the scoring for Pinckneyville in the opening quarter, which ended with an 18-5 score.

"The first quarter was a lot of interior stuff, we got a lot of actions going," said PCHS head coach Alan Engelhardt. "We had several kids score, so it's coming from all over the place and that's hard to defend. I thought we did a tremendous job of guarding their perimeter stuff, we were getting out on shooters, we were contesting jump shots. In the second quarter I think we kind of took a deep breath instead of pressing on and creating separation, which made the rest of the game a bit of a dog fight."

The Lady Indians found a way to get back into it, though. Alaina Caldwell broke Du Quoin's drought with a three-pointer with just a few seconds remaining in the first period, then hit another about a minute into the second quarter. Jordyn Bullar and Meryn Gross also connected from downtown in the second, and Tarynn Mays' bucket near the end of the half got DHS to within five at the break, 24-19.

"We acted a little disinterested there at the get-go," said Du Quoin head coach Shawn File, "made a nice run to get back into it, hit some jump shots and started to attack the rim a little bit."

"I don't think we were very physical there in the first half. Rebounding is an issue for us, and when you've got someone like Sophie Keith who does a real good job getting to the boards, she gets so many putback points and gets to the line, things like that."

But that's as close as Du Quoin would get. They managed only three points in the entire third quarter as the Lady Panthers again built up a double-digit lead.

"We did a good job inside," Engelhardt said, "they didn't have very many points in the paint, and I thought we did a great job defending dribble drives. We were frustrated with some of our dribble drive defense as of late, but it was good tonight."

Mayci Doerflein had 12 points to lead Pinckneyville in scoring, Raygan Yates added 11, and Morgan, Keith and Caitlyn Anderson each added 8.

Gross finished with 9 points to lead Du Quoin, Bullar had 7, Mays and Caldwell each added 6, Katie Smith 4 and Day 2.

On Monday, Pinckneyville will take on Harrisburg at 7:15 p.m., Du Quoin will meet tournament host Herrin at 8:00 p.m.

Harrisburg remains the tournament's only unbeaten team, defeating Christ Our Rock Lutheran and Vienna on day one. CORL defeated Herrin in the night session.

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Du Quoin 62, Vienna 52:</span>

Earlier on Saturday, the Lady Indians knocked off Vienna behind 20 points from Mays and 16 from Caldwell, who hit four three-pointers in the win.

"It's nice to get her back going a little bit to give us another threat," File said.

Mays scored 18 of her 20 points after the half, helping the Lady Indians overcome a 25-20 deficit at the break.

Day added 12 points, Bullar and Smith each had 6.

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Herrin 57, Pinckneyville 53:</span>

Morgan scored a tournament-high 27 points for the Lady Panthers in Saturday's game against Herrin, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Tigers escaped with a four-point win after trailing 19-12 after one quarter and 31-25 at the half.

Herrin did a good chunk of their damage by outperforming PCHS at the free throw line - the Lady Tigers were 12-of-17 while the Lady Panthers made just 1-of-8.

"They zoned us, and I thought we shot the ball very, very well," said Engelhardt. "It was a very physical game, which benefited them. We had more fouls than them, so that makes it very difficult when you're the smaller team."

Yates finished with 12 points, Taylor Smith 6, Keith 4, Anderson and Gabby Bartnicki each had 2.