GIRLS BASKETBALL: Lady Indians take down Trico

The Lady Indians got Kate Smith back on the floor, but it was Tarynn Mays who lit up the scoreboard for Du Quoin. Mays scored 17 points for an otherwise balance offensive attack for DHS, as the Lady Indians took out Trico 56-44 on Saturday afternoon in Campbell Hill.

Smith did not start and played limited minutes, but her presence on the court will no doubt be noticeable in the near future. Du Quoin started their season 4-3 with Smith as their leading scorer before losing eight of their next ten ball games without her.

"We've got three girls who have taken the assignment of being captain, and whenever you get one of those three back on the floor, there's a pick-me-up for everybody," said DHS head coach Shawn File. "Now what we have to do is make sure that we get everybody healthy. We don't want to rush her back and do too much too soon."

Saturday's game was tight through three quarters. Du Quoin's Chloe Hill put in a three-pointer just before halftime to give the Lady Indians a 24-22 lead, and the two squads played to a 14-14 stalemate in the third period.

In the fourth quarter, though, Du Quoin's pressure defense started to get to the Lady Pioneers. At one point, Trico had turnovers on seven straight possessions in the period, allowing the Lady Indians to rattle off an 11-0 run, capped off by Jordyn Bullar's three-point play with 3:08 remaining in the game.

"With Kate trying to come back, we thought we might try a little zone and try to limit some of the movement there," said File. "That didn't work at all."

"When we turned the press on, that created turnovers, that creates some excitement, some lay-up opportunities. We haven't had much depth the last 4-6 weeks, but now Mackenzie (Jackson) is three games in now, and we're getting Kate back. It's not just Kate Smith, it's everybody getting back to more familiar roles."

Jackson had probably her best game since returning from a finger injury, scoring seven points and grabbing a bunch of offensive rebounds.

"(Jackson) is very tenacious," File said. "We're hoping between her, (Sadie) Day and Bullar, those three post players can kind of feed off of one another. Jackson definitely brings a lot of energy off the bench."

Kate Smith finished with 8 points, Hill had 6, Alaina Caldwell 5, Bullar 4, Day 4, Hannah Baxter 3 and Katie Smith 2.

Du Quoin (7-11) hosts Zeigler-Royalton on Tuesday night, then welcomes Nashville to town on Thursday.