Lady Indians Open with Victory, Elverado Girls Stumble
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Last season, it took until early January-and 20 games-for Du Quoin High School's Girls Basketball team to post a victory.
Tuesday night, as the 6th Annual Du Quoin Jaycees/Lady Indians Tip-Off Classic opened, the host team wasted little time in reaching the win column.
Dominating the middle two quarters, the young Lady Indians pulled away to defeat Chester 46-39 to start play in the round robin event.
Defending champion Johnston City handled Murphysboro, 36-29, in Tuesday's nightcap.
Action continues Thursday with Du Quoin playing Murphysboro (7:30) and Johnston City facing Chester at 6 o'clock.
"We want to generate some excitement after going through such a rough season last year," Du Quoin coach Shawn File said. "This year we want to turn the corner and be competitive in every game. Winning this first game is a great way to start."
Freshman point guard Jessica Hirsch made an impressive prep debut, tossing in a game-high 16 points. She also had four assists.
Sophomore Shaylyn Little added nine points and was one of nine Lady Indians who scored.
File played his entire 12-girl roster and substituted freely throughout the game, getting solid contributions from all.
"We tried to get all the girls in early and maybe kill some of the first game jitters," admitted File. "I have six upperclassmen and 16 freshman and sophomores, We had three freshmen step up tonight and play pretty big."
Chester raced to an early 8-0 lead and was still ahead, 14-13, at the midway point of the second period. As the quarter ended, Chester's lead was down to 10-9 after Du Quoin ripped off nine unanswered points to end the frame.
Consecutive baskets from Hirsch-an offensive stickback and then driving layup after a steal-pushed DHS in front to stay.
Sophomore center Heather Cavins marked twice on successive plays underneath to push Du Quoin in front 21-16. Little then added a free throw as the Lady Indians carried a 22-16 edge into intermission.
Chester (0-1) could get no closer the rest of the way as the Lady Indians steadily pulled away. Another basket from Hirsch put Du Quoin on top by 15 in the fourth period, 46-31, before Chester scored the game's final eight points.
"We attacked the basket and hit some open jumpers and then the game opened up for us," File said. "We played well and its great to start with a victory. We've got a long way to go, but this was just a fantastic way to start."
Stephanie Gates netted five points for Du Quoin with freshman Megi Jones scoring four points and grabbing five rebounds.
In Johnston City's win over Murphysboro, 2007 tourney MVP Emily Moulyard scored 12 points as the Lady Indians (1-1, 1-0 Tip-Off) pulled away from a one-point halftime lead.
Kelsey Mileur of Murphysboro (0-1) scored a game-high 17 points.
Du Quoin 46, Chester 39
CHESTER (39)
Lyons 1 0-0 2, Tressler 1 0-0 2, Jolly 4 (1) 0-0 9, Bert 4 0-1 8, Beers 2 0-0 2, Buchheit 1 4-5 6, Helmers 3 2-2 8. TOTAL 16 (1) 6-8 39.
Du QUOIN (46)
Jones 1 0-0 2, Hirsch 7 (1) 1-1 16, Gates 2 1-2 5, Emling 0 1-2 1, Cavins 4 0-1 8, Woll 0 1-2 1, Bledsoe 1 0-0 2, Little 3 3-4 9, M. Ward 1 0-1 2, Hess 0 0-2 0, Brown 0 0-0 0, A. Ward 0 0-0 0. TOTAL 19 (1) 7-13 46.
Chester 10 6 14 9-39
Du Quoin 9 13 15 9-46
3-POINTERS-Chester 1 (Jolly), Du Quoin 1 (Hirsch). TEAM FOULS-Chester 16, Du Quoin 13.
MERIDIAN TOURNAMENT
Elverado dropped into the consolation bracket of the season-opening Meridian Lady Bobcats Classic Tuesday night, losing 69-12 against highly-regarded Cobden.
Thursday at 6 p.m., the Lady Falcons (0-1) play Century. Cobden moves on to face Galatia in the semifinal round.
Trailing 26-4 as the first period ended, the Lady Falcons were behind 34-4 by intermission and managed just five field goals the entire game.
Courtney Morse (five points) was the top Elverado scorer.
Center Mallory Winthrop didn't score, but did block eight shots and pull in 10 rebounds.
"We only had five field goals and two of those were lay-in's," Elverado coach Lance Bedar said. "Cobden swarmed us with their press early and the girls never recovered. We didn't take care of the ball at all."
The Lady Falcons committed 30 turnovers.