Triopia got a wonderful pitching performance out of Josh Millard as they won the 4-0 game over Brown County.  The Hornets got 5 hits, committed 1 error and left 5 runners on base in their loss. McDara went 5 innings with 5 w3alks and 9 strikeouts which was a pretty good effort.  The problem for the Hornets was the 3rd inning when Triopia had 6 hits to go with the 4 runs.  They hit up and down the line up in that inning with Coil, Cox, Alexander and Schone picking up the RBI's.  Schone, Winkleman and Greene had 2 hits each in the Trojan win and 4 other players had at least 1 hit in the game.  Millard went 7 innings with 2 walks and 8 strike outs as he made the right pitches at the right time.  It will be a competitive title game on Saturday.  The winner will play the winner of the Lutheran regional at Lewistown in game #2 next Wednesday.      

In game three, Routt Catholic won their first game of they year as they dropped Peoria 10-0. Casey Dolen led the way with 3 hits while Birdsell, Pirkle, Brahler and Robinson had 2 hits each.  The 13 hits, 10 runs, only 1 error and 10 runners left on base was the best effort of the year for the Rockets.  Halpin allowed 0 hits while striking out 10 and walking 3 in the win.  

The championship game was a fitting battle between West Central and Rushville-Industry.  The Rockets jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then the Cougars took the lead 3-2 and 4-2 before the Rockets tied it at 4-4.  West Central re-took the lead 5-4, then 6-4 and had to hang on for the 6-5 win.  Rushville had 3 hits in the 7th and had the tieing and leading runners on base but couldn't get that key hit.  Nash took the win and Swanger the loss in a thrilling finish to the game.  Swanger and Reische led the Rockets with 2 hits each.  Rachel Moore, Wade and Timmerman had 2 hits each in the 11 hit barrage from West Central.  Each team made very nice defensive play in the game and it was a good experience for both teams and should help them  as the season rolls on.   

In the opener, Rout had 18 hits, 18 runs, 1 error and they only left 2 runners on base. Lonergan led the way with a 3 for 4 day with 2 home runs and 6 RBI's.  He was also the winning pitcher. Ketcham had 3 also but he suffered a dislocated finger and was not able to play in the night cap. Lindsey, Long, Jones and Elliott all had 2 hits while Bickhaus and Overton had 1 hit each.  Not only did Routt lose Ketcham in the game, they lost Wes Long who suffered a wrist injury.  Tolono had been beaten 18-8 earlier against Rochester and were held with no hits in their loss to Routt.

In the second game, it was an up and down affair for both teams as the lead changed hands numerous times.  The final runs came on a 2 run home run for Nick Murphy and Rochester won the 13 to 11 exciting game.  Stremlau led the Routt attack with a 3 for 3 day while Lonergan, Lindsay and Elliott had 2 hits each.  Routt finished with 12 hits, 11 runs, 2 errors and they uncharacteristlly left 6 runners on base. Rochester was able to trade runs with Routt and while trailing 11-7, they got a grand slam home run from Garrett Dooly to tie it in the 6th and then they won it in the 7th.  Fitzgerald, Green, Bunch, Watson and Murphy all had 2 hits with 8 of the nine Rochester starters had at least one hit in the game.  Rochester improved to 7-4 on the year and Routt fell to 5-2.  On the day, Lonergan had 2 homeruns, Long 1, Bickhaus 1, Elliott 1 and Stremlau 1 as, even though they were wind aided, the Rockets showed their power.   

Our Saviou School and Triopia played in the regional championship game for the 8-1A division @ OSS.  It was a very tight game and the difference was likely the 18 Trojan turnovers that cost them in the end.  The Shamrocks hitting 6 of 8 free throws in the 4th quarter helped preserve the win.  Lowe and Arnold each scored 8 points for Triopia as they hit 34% of their shots and were 0-2 from the free throw line.  OSS did a nice job of holding Werries to only 6 points in their win.  Beckman led OSS with 16 points and a strong inside game.  Overton played one of his best games of the year with 9 points and some very good defense while Whalen added 6 points to the win. Chumley had a bucket and 2 free throws and Perry rounded out the scoring with 2 points and some very good play in the paint. OSS shot 38% from the field and 80% from the charity stripe with only 9 turnovers, and seem to be on top of their game. Next up will be a sectional game with Waverly @ Waverly on Wednesday night @ 6:00.  Waverly is a very good team with a 5 game winning streak over OSS but keep in mind this is only a 1 game play off so the Shamrocks will try to put the heat on the Scotties and earn their way to state.  It should be a fun game so join us for the play by play. 

Pana took 3rd place with a 55-47 win over West Central.  The host, Lady Hawks, defeated Granite City 39-32 and Alton beat Alton Marquette 44-43 for the Consolation Championship. QND will not be back next year and it will give the tournament a different look and feel.  They are such a good team and no one has beaten them since Taylorville in 2007.

The Lady Hawk Invitational All-Tournament team:  Tori Knight and McKenzie Satterfield (Civic Memorial), Kassidy Gengenbacher and Jordan Frericks , who is also the MVP (QND), Patsy Coonrod and Rachel Williams (Carrollton), Emma Baalman (Calhoun), Natalie Halpin (Routt), Jordan Wilson (Alton), Abby Lashmett (West Central), Allie Schoonover (Pana) and Natalie O'Keefe (Granite City).

The 2000 and 2001 Lady Hawk State Basketball Champions teams were recognized at half time of the 3rd place game as they are going to be enshrined, on April 27th, into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  It was a well deserved and well received ceremony for the ladies. 

Pana and Civic Memorial, the #2 and #3 seeds battled for the right to play QND for the championship on Saturday night and the Eagles played an excellent game.  They shot 63% from the field and 83% from the free throw line with only 11 turnovers as their inside game dominated.  Knight scored 18 and Ballard 17 to lead the way.  Pana had trouble with the Eagles height and also had 22 turnovers which did not help their cause.  They shot a respectable 47% with 75% from the free throw line but they gave up too many shots in the paint to win the game. Nadine Vaughn had 14 points, Funneman 12, Charley Lett 9 and Allie Schoonover 7 as Pana could not get their offense in gear and fell too far behind.  They will take on West Central at 6:00 Saturday for 3rd place and that will be a good match up.

West Central got off to a great start and led the Jerseyville Panthers 22-4 after the first quarter.  They extended it to 33-11 at half and went on to dominate the Panthers 61-41 and earned the right to play QND in the semi-final round at 6:30 on Thursday.  The Cougars had 7 players in the scoring column and were led by Carmody (18), Abby Lashmett (14) and Meghan Lashmett (12)  as they hit 43% of their shots, 36% from beyond the arc and 60% from the free throw line.  They committed 14 turnovers while forcing 22 on the Panthers.  West Central  improved to 19-4 with the win.  

Civic Memorial earned the right to play Pana in the semi-final round of the championship bracket with their 50-41 win over Carrollton. Satterfield did a good job of holding Cook to just one shot in the game.  Coonrod was active with 16 points for the Hawks and Williams, who played on a tender ankle, scored 10 in the loss.  The Hawks made 16 of 32 shots from the field and 9 of 16 free throws but their 21 turnovers was a few too man.  The Eagles made 18 of 41 shots and 12 of 23 free throws with 14 turnovers.  Trost hit 12 points, Fencel 9 and Niemier 9 as seven Eagles scored in the win.  Civic Memorial improved to 17-6 with the win and Carrollton vell to 19-4.    

Jerseyville came into their game with Routt Catholic with a 2-17 record and played a great game as they knocked off the 15-6 Rockets 60-45.  Roundcount was solid with 26 points and Gorman added 13.  Marshall and Thurston each added 8.  The Panthers hit 53% from the field and 66% from the free throw line and won in spite of their 19 turnovers. Halpin had a nice day with 23 points as Tonry and Langdon each scored 9.  Routt shot 35% from the field and only had 5 turnovers but their problem came from the free throw line as they only hit 4 of 14 as they dug a hole they could not get out of.  

Calhoun defeated Pana last year and was hoping to get a shot at them this year in the second round.  They beat Madison 75-45 after getting off to a slow start.  Madison was led by Williams with 19 points, as Hardin scored 14 and Dixon 9.  The Lady Trojans will play Metro East in the next round  in the consolation bracket.  Calhoun got 15 points from Maddie Baalman and Courtney Squier and were led in scoring by Emma Baalman who hit 19. They had 11 players in the scoring column and hit 44% from the field plus 74% from the free throw line.

The host school, Carrollton, cruised to a 50-21 win over Brussels and earned the right to play Civic Memorial at 8:00 on Tuesday night.  Nolle had 9 to lead the Lady Raiders but they just got in trouble early and never recovered.  They had 23% of their shots, 63% of their free throws and had 20 turnovers in the loss.  The Lady Hawks  Eight Hawks scored in the win and were led by Williams with 15 and Coonrod with 14.  They shot 34% from the field and only 40% from the line but dominated the boards and only had 8 turnovers in their win.  Thier match up with C.M. should be one of the better games on Tuesday.  

The 5th place game was exciting and went to overtime before WFNB knocked off Pittsfield 49-47.  It was 10-9, 20-19, 35-35 and 45-45 in regulation and finally needed an additional 4 minutes to get it done.  Pittsfield got 32 points from O'Brien who was playing her first game since her appendectomy.  Nichols and Peebles had 10 each to lead 7 Scotties in the scoring column.

West Central got off to a great start as they hit 9 of 13 shots in the first quarter and they never trailed in their 49-38 win over the Panthers of Litchfield.  Abby Lashmett lead the way with 22 while Bettis (12) and Kilver (10) hit double digits.  The Cougars shot 40% from the field and 75% from the free throw line.  The Panthers got a good day from Scharf who scored 19 and Steffens added 12.  Litchfield also shot 77% from the free throw line in the loss and had 20 turnovers.  West Central improved to 15-4 with the win.

In the Championship game Carrollton had 7 players in the scoring column in the first half and 6 in the second half and were hard to defend for Routt Catholic.  The Hawks won the game 61-42 as they hit 54% from the field.  While they only shot 27% from the free throw line and had 16 turnovers, they had enough offense to get the job done.  Williams was strong with 17 points and Coonrod had 16 as they dominated the paint.  Routt was able to get 16 from Tonry and 11 from Birdsell as she stepped up nicely.  The Rockets were playing without one of their playmakers as Garde was on crutches.  She is an integral part of the Routt offense with good penetration and passes to her teammates and it all showed lacking today.  The Rockets will need to re-group again and put together some offense as their conference and post season closes in on them. They have played without Gross, when she was their leading scorer, and now without Garde who is their current leading scorer so someone else will need to step up.  77% free throw shooting kept them in the game today and only 7 turnovers was nice but someone is going to have to put the ball in the basket.  Carrollton tracked Halpin all day long and held her with zero points so they need another shooter to help out Tonry. Their next game will be at home against Liberty on Tuesday so it will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments they can make.   

Mendon Unity got 16 from Begeman and defeated Triopia 43-30 and will play Pittsfield at 12:30 tomorrow.

Beardstown and Rushville-Industry played for the second time this year and got a measure of revenge  with their 48-39 win. Rawlins had 12 and Lindsey 11  while Collins with 14 and Plumere had 10 for the Rockets.  

Pleasant Plains continued to play well as they defeated Farmington 53-40.  Hergenrother had 15 points and Yakel hit for double digits in the win.  Austin Camp had 14 points  and Danley 9 in the loss.

Canton dominated the West Central Cougars with a 59-30 win and earned the right to play for the championship tomorrow . They had 10 players in the scoring column  as Churchill led the way with 16 points. Abby Lashmett had 16 for the Cougars  but West Central never got their offense in gear.  With the loss, they will face Havana in the 3rd place game on Saturday.

 In a very exciting game, Illini Bluffs beat Havana 60-57 as they came down to the last second of the game.  Huber played very well, for Havana, with 20 points and Jones hit 11.  Taylor McClintock scored 29, for the Tigers, in the nail-biter and will get a chance to face a strong defense on Saturday night in the championship game.

Griggsville Perry played better in day two than they did in the opener but, they lost to Beardstown 50-17.  Craven led the way for the Tornadoes with 11 points.  Harris scored 16 for the Tigers and Rawlins played well with 15.

Havana defeated Illini West on a last second shot by Hughes after turning the ball over for a game leading shot with 3.9 seconds left.  Bastert got the steal and the final basket for the Chargers and led the way with 10 points over all.  Nine of the Illini West players  hit the scoring column as they shot 31% and hit 46% of their free throws.  They had 25 turnovers in the loss.  Havana got well rounded scoring as Huber scored 10, Hughes 8, Boyce 8 and Jones 8.  They shot 31% of their shots, 60% of their charity stripe shots and had 22 turnovers as well.  It was obviously a controversial call but, in my opinion, was correct.

West Central beat West Hancock 52-40 to move on to the semi-final game in the championship bracket.  Carmody (16), Bettis (11) and Abby Lashmett (10) hit double digits in the win and Megan Lashmett scored 8.  The Cougars shot 40% in the win and hit 3 of 5 free throws with 25 turnovers.  The Titans also had three players, Dewald (12), Koehler (10) and Hammel (10) in the loss.  They shot 34% from the field, 37.5 from the line and had 26 turnovers in the game.

The #2 seed, Canton Lady Giants won a 63-48 decision over the Bombers of Macomb to move to the semi-finals where they will take on the West Central Cougars.  Kumer (26) and Churchill (18) were especially strong in the win as 7 Canton players scored in the win.  37% from the field and 39% from the line with 17 turnovers was good enough to secure the win.  Nine of the Bombers scored as Macomb fell to 9-9.  Saddler had a good scoring day with 18 points and Sullivan added 7.  They hit 43% of their shots and only 21% of their free throws with 29 turnovers.

Illini Bluffs came into the tournament as the #1 rated team and played well in their 65-44 win over Liberty.  Taylor McClintock scored 30 and Jaycee Johnson 12 in the win.  56% shooting  with 75% free throw shooting with 19 turnovers was good enough for the win and a date in the semi-final round against the Havana Ducks. Hyer led the Eagles with 11 points as 8 Liberty players scored in the game. Liberty only hit 33% of their shots and 43% of their free throws with 27 turnovers.  

In game #2, Brown County played very well early and led for the first 2 1/2 quarters before they surrendered the lead and finally the game in a 46-39 loss to Illini West.  Markert scored 30 of the 39 points put up by the Hornets as she hit 14 in the first half and 16 in the second half in a well-rounded game.  The Hornets show 46% from the field and 47% from the line with 43 turnovers which cost them the game.  The Chargers got 16 from Bastert and 8 from Gronewold in the come from behind win.  They hit 33% of their shots and 56% from the line with 18 turnovers. 

Macomb defeated Farmington 78-51 as they lead every quarter of the game.  Saddler had 14, Sullivan 12 Hare 11 in the win. They hit 7 of 11 from the charity stripe.  For Farmington, they got 19 from Danley and 16 from Putrich and could only hit 12 of 24 free throws in the loss.  Farmington will take on Triopia tomorrow and Macomb will face the #2 seed Canton.

Illini West trailed Routt Catholic for 3 quarters and tied them at 32 in regulation.  The final score in overtime was the Chargers 41 and Routt 37.  White stepped up with 12 points in the win as Illini West shot 39% from the field and 6 for 10 from the line.  They had 21 turnovers in the game.  Routt came up short on their free throw shooting and could have won the game in 4 quarters.  They only hit 6 of 13 attempts  and had 18 turnovers in the loss with 33% shooting from the field.  Routt will face Pittsfield tomorrow in tough match up and will need to re-group.  They are 9-3 on the season. It was the 2nd come from behind win for Illini West and they will need to get past Havana in their next game. 

In the most one-sided game of the day, Pleasant Plains defeated Griggsville-Perry 52-1 as 12 of the Cardinals scored in the game.  Clouser led the way with 9 points as they only had 6 turnovers while forcing 22 on the Tornadoes.  The Tornadoes are 2-9 on the year and the win improved Plains to 9-5 and a match up with the West Central Cougars in round two.

Lewistown defeated White Hall North Greene 41-24 to earn the right to play the #1 seed in the second round.  Battefeld had 13 points to lead the Indians as 8 players hit the scoring column in the win.  Lewistown had 3 treys and hit 6 of 15 from the free throw line.  WHNG only had 6 of 16 free throws and were led in scoring by Elliott with 6 points.

Pleasant Plains and West Central played at 6:30 and were tied at 24 at half time.  The cougars led 44-38 after 3 quarters and won the game 53-48.  Yakel led the Cardinals with 12 points and Pankey scored 10.  Plains shot 34% in the loss and did a nice job from the line as they knocked down 10 of 13.  They had 15 turnovers and forced 22 on the Cougars.  Abby Lashmett had a nice game with 21 points and Megan Lashmett hit double figures with 15.  Carmody also had 8 points as the Cougars hit 51% of their shots and 54% of their free throws.  West Central will have a tough match up with West Hancock tomorrow as they hope to advance in the winners bracket.  It will be a 3:30 game in the high school gym.  

In the final game of the night in the High School Gym, the #1 seed Illini Bluffs Tigers defeated a scrappy Lewistown club 74-57.  The Indians played well and Battefeld in spite of some foul trouble finished the game with 25 points. LeGrande came in off the bench with 12 points also as Lewistown shot 37% from the field and only 38'% from the charity stripe.  They had 21 turnovers in the loss also.   Taylor McClintock led the Tigers with 24 and her sister, Sydney, had 16 as the freshman was impressive in her style of play.  Nine players hit the floor for the Tigers and all 9 scored in the game.  They hit 46% of their shots and 68% of their free throws with 15 turnovers.  They will play Liberty tomorrow night in the final game of the day in the high school gym.  They are 15 and 1 on the year with their only loss coming at the hands of Rock Island, a 4A ball club.  

White North Greene boy's team played a competitive first half and only trailed Routt 22-20 at the intermission.  They were out scored 20 to 7 in the 3rd and never recovered as the final score showed Routt on top 59-39.  They improved to 7-1 with the win and the Spartans dropped to 4-4.  Twelve turnovers in the second half hurt WHNG and the Rocket defense made them work hard for their shots.  Rusten scored 16, Vincent 11, Davis 8 and Roesch 3 in the Spartan loss.  They shot 30% in the game and hit 57% of their free throws.  Routt averages 52 points a game only allows 36 so they were right on average tonight.  Ketcham was the leading scorer for the Rockets as he scored 12 from the field and 10 from the charity stripe.  He earned the start with his 6 point game against Mendon and by tying the score 47-47 with only 7 seconds left in the game.  Lindsey scored 12 and Strelau came in off of the bench with 7.  Eight Rockets scored in the game as they hit 40% of their shots from the field and 72% from the line.  They have a nice inside-outside game and are playing very good defense as they led in every quarter tonight.   

West Central started out slowly again tonight but came alive in the 3rd quarter and got out of the Bruner Center with a 50-34 win over South Fork-Kincaid.  Steven Schmidt led the Ponies with 16 points and Crowder had 9 in their loss.  They hit 44% from the filed and only shot 4 free throws in the game while the Cougars shot 24.  West Central had 7 players in the scoring column as Barnett scored 13 of his 15 points in the 2nd half. Devlin had 11, VanDeVelde 10 and Bettis knocked downs 3 treys for his 9 points.  The Cougars shot 39% from the floor, 62% from the free throw line and had 16 turnovers with 11 in the first half and only 5 in the second half when they made their run.  With the win, West Central is 10-2 on the season with their only losses coming at the hands of Springfield Lutheran (OT) and Pittsfield.     

Winchester defeated Bismarck-Henning in the Elite 8 for 7-2A girls basketball from Leroy.  They played Kinderhook-Western in the semi-final round and came from behind to win the 31-25 battle.  The Wolverines hit 8 points in the 4th quarter while shutting out the Wildcats.  Ford the Cats, Borrowman had 11 points, Melton 9, Fry 3 and McKee 2 as they finished their season with a 14-5 mark.  They shot 10 for 23 from the field and 4 for 6 from the line with 19 turnovers.  Kauffmann led the Wolverines with 23 of the 31 points including 5 treys.  Maddie Lashmett added 4, Cannon 2 and Fearneyhough 2 in the victory.  They hit 10 of 36 field goals, 6 of 10 free throws and did a nice job of taking care of the ball with only 6 turnovers in the game.  The Wolverines will play Bloomington Holy Trinity on Thursday night. Winchester will take a 27-0 mark into the championship and face the 20 and 2 Saints. 

In the second game of the final night of the New Berlin tournament, Rushville-Industry came in short-handed against a good Raymond-Lincolnwood team.  Mason Plater had been injured in the Friday night game and Manning Plater came down with a fever and was not able to play.  They hit 10 of 33 shots and 9 of 18 free throws with 14 turnovers in the loss.  Gardner had his best night of the week with 12 points while Kettering scored 9 and Jones 8 in the loss.  They finished the week with an 0-5 record but have better things ahead.  The Lancers got what they wanted with their first win of the year as they beat Rushville 50-33.  Krager (all-tournament) led the way with 16 points, Snyder 14 and Brockmeier 10 points in the win. They knocked down 48.6% of their shots and 71% of their shots from the charity stripe.  The down side was 19 turnovers but they ended the tournament with 1 win and 4 losses.

The first game of the night was a championship game for the Lutheran Crusdaders as they came in with a 4-0 record and all they had to do was beat Carlinvile for the title.  Sounds easy as the Cavaliers were only 2-2 in the tournament but, if you had been there all week long you would know this is a very scrappy Carlinville team and beating them was not going to be easy. The final score proved exactly that  as the Crusaders hung on for the 41-40 win.  The Cavaliers had two chances at the end to pull out the victory but couldn't finish it off.  It was a fun  game and the Crusaders earned their championship.  The Cavaliers spread the ball around well as Easterday scored 9, Butcher 8, Kleeman 8 and Barber 8 with their leading scorer, Barry Stewart, scoring 4. Carlinville shot 35% from the filed and 57% from the line with 19 turnovers.  Lutheran also had 4 players in the scoring column with Page (12) leading the way while Wofford scored 10, Schahl 8 and Ryan Kirby 7.  Lutheran hit 35% of their shots, 50% of their free throws and 20 turnovers, but they also own the championship for 2012.  

The all-tournament team consists of Austin Jones of Rushville Industry, Noah Krager of Raymond-Lincolnwood, Barry Stewart of Carlinville, Zach Longhta and Eric Gustafson of New Berlin, Jackson Page and Pierson Wofford of Springfield Lutheran, and Tyler Devlin of West Central.     

Rushville-Industry felt that Carlinville and Raymond-Lincolnwood were two teams they could defeat in their 5 games in the tournament.  They based it partly on their great effort and 3 quarter lead over the West Central Cougars.  They were out shot 62% to 29% in the first quarter and trailed 22-8 and never took the lead.  The Rockets left the game with an 0-4 record and a 51-38 loss to Carlinville and has one more chance tomorrow to get that elusive first win.  Jones shot 17 times with 6 free throw attempts to end up scoring 12 points to lead the Rockets.  Mason Plater added 11 points on 14 shots and Manning Plater had 10 points on 11 shots as the Rockets hit 13 of 52 shots for 25%. They shot 56% from the free throw and turned the ball over just 8 times in the loss.  Carlinville did the right thing at the right time tonight and did not give up the lead in any quarter. Kleeman played well with 18 points, Easterday had another good game with 9 points, McCaherty 8 points in the first quarter as 7 of the Cavaliers scored in the game.  They hit 51% of their shots, 69% of their free throws and finished with 15 turnovers and a 2-2 mark in the tournament.  They will have the task of trying to up-end the Crusaders on Saturday night to finish 3-2.

Night four of the Gene Bergschneider tournament started off with a bang as Lutheran defeated West Central 47-43 in overtime in a very exciting game.  It was physical, combative and very competitive all night long.  Corey Barnett was the strongest physical player on the court and played a very nice game with his 18 points.  He was intimidating and controlled the inside game from the first points to the moment he fouled out.  Boehs is playing good basketball in the tournament, scored 14 points, and is invaluable on both ends of the floor. West Central scored on 13 of 39 from the field, 15 of 23 from the line and had 13 turnovers in the loss.  They came from behind in their first three wins but couldn't do it tonight and it will be fun to watch them play New Berlin tomorrow night.  Lutheran got dominated in the first quarter and was trailing 12-5 and it looked like they were going to systematically get beaten.  Steve Allen and his coaching staff made the right adjustments and tied the game 34-34 at the end of regulation.  They hit 2 of 2 in the overtime period and hit 8 of 12 from the free throw line. Seven players scored for the Crusaders as they shot 42% from the field 57% from the line and over came 18 turnovers.  If these two teams played again, it would be difficult to predict who would come out on top.  It was just a fun game and while some of the fans were upset with the officiating, it never looked one-sided to me but, it did look like a hard game to call because this was a couple of teams full of good athletes who were going at each other.       

Rushville-Industry entered tonight's game with an 0-2 record and were outscored 113 to 76.  They led for 3 quarters tonight and lost a 48-36 decision to West Central.  Jones had 4 treys in the first half and finished the game with 13 points.  Manning Plater scored 8 and Mason Plater 6 in the loss.  The Rockets hit 14 of 29 shots for 48% and just 1 of 9 free throws in the game.  After only 6 turnovers in the first half, they turned it over 10 more times in the second half.  Corey Barnett owned the inside and scored 17 points tonight while Devlin knocked down 13.  VanDeVelde had 9 points and Boehs 5 in the win.  They were 18 of 46 for 39% from the field, 7 of 10 from the line and only had 6 turnovers as they did a great job of taking care of the ball.  This is the third game in a row the Cougars trailed early and came back for the win. 

In the opening game of the Gene Bergschneider Tournament this evening the Carlinville Cavaliers took care of the Raymond Lincolnwood Lancers 70-42 in a wider margin than most fans thought it would be.  Snyder led the Lancers with 15 and no one else had double digits in the loss.  Lincolnwood was 11 for 39 with a 17 for 29 free throw night and 15 turnovers.  Carlinville spread the ball around well as Easterday had 12, Marchiori 12, Kleeman 11 , Stewart 11 and Butcher 9.  Nine Cavaliers scored in the game as they hit 30 of 49 shots and 9 of 16 free throws.  They turned the ball over 12 times and looked good through out the game as they never trailed.   

West Central had a harder time with Raymond-Lincolnwood than you would expect as they held on for the 48-43 win.  This was another one of those character building games as the Cougars two wins have not come easily.  Krager scored 21 for the Lancers in a losing cause.  Brockmeyer added 9, Snyder 6, Pope had 4 and Braham 3.  The Lancers shot 38% from the field, 56% from the free throw line and had 18 turnovers but had to feel very good about their effort tonight.  Devlin had 17, Boehs 9, Slagle 7, VanDeVelde 6, Corey Barnett 5 and Bettis 3 and the Cougar defense had as much to do with their win as their offense. They shot 48.6 from the field, 69.5 from the charity stripe and only had 7 turnovers as they did a great job of taking care of the ball. 

Springfield Lutheran took charge in the third quarter against Rushville-Industry tonight as they won the 46-34 battle.  Kirby, Schahl and Page all scored 8 points and Wofford led the way with 15 points as the Crusaders spread the ball around. The hit 48% of their shots and 62% of their free throws.  They had 14 turnovers in the win.  R-I played a close first half again but just couldn't stay close in the second half as their 1 for 6 shooting in the third put them in a hole.  Jones hit 14 points and Manning Plater 10 to lead the "Rockets.  Mason Plater added 5 points but R-I could only shoot 32% from the field, with 16 turnovers and 7 for 10 from the free throw line.  The Rockets will face West Central tomorrow night and will be severely challenged once again as they look for their first win of the season.     

Springfield Lutheran did not do anything special tonight but they played pretty steady ball and led at every quarter as they knocked off Raymond-Lincolnwood 40-31.  Wofford was active with 10 points, Page 9, Schahl 8, Kirby 6 and Hennig 6 as the Crusaders got well rounded scoring and were more aggressive than the Lancers in the win. They shot 47% from the field and 42% from the line with too many (25) turnovers in the win. They will have an interesting game with R-I tomorrow night.  The Lancers shot 34% from the field and 70% from the line with 26 turnovers.  Brockmeyer played well with 16 points while Snyder had 6 and Graham 4 in the loss.  Raymond-Lincolnwood will have their hands full with West Central tomorrow and are going to have to step it up.

West Central struggled early tonight and were down 11-0 and 17-3 before they got it going and took a half time lead 25-20. After getting tied 44-44 late they got 2 of 3 free throws from VanDeVelde to post the 46-44 win.  Devlin led the Cougars with 14 while Boehs and Bettis added 9 each.  VanDeVelde made 7 points including the two big free throws with 1.1 seconds left on the clock.  The Cougars shot 37% in the game and 48% from the free throw line with 20 turnovers and you will normally lose those games.  Carlinville got off to a great start and lost their intensity for some reason and trailed 33-28 gong into the 4th quarter. Easterday (7) Kleeman (4) and Stewart (5) came alive late in the 4th and they almost pulled off a very big win.  Stewart finished with 18, Kleeman 8 and Easterday 8 as the Cavaliers shot 47% from the field and 50% from the free throw line.  They had 17 turnovers in the first half and caused themselves a lot of problems.  They forced 9 in the second half and only committed four of their own to get back into the game.  This Carlinville team may cause some problems before the tournament is over.          

We knew very little about Edinburg going into tonight's match  with Hardin-Calhoun.  They don't play in a local conference and we got our first look at what seems to be a real scrappy competitor.  They dropped the Warriors 25-23, 20-25, 25-21 and just didn't give up when they had their backs against the wall. The Warriors were on a roller coaster ride all night long and could not make the shots at crunch time as they end their season with a 25-8 mark.  We lost another one of our WIVC teams in the Warriors tonight and that leaves Routt as the sole survivor.  The Warriors numbers looked like this:  Oswald 11 points with 3 kills, Kay Baalman 3 points, Godar 2 points, Maddid Baalman 10 points, 26 assists, 1 kill and 3 aces, Klocke 2 assists and 3 kills, Hurley 4 points, Squier 4 points, 1 assist, 8 kills and 1 block, Emma Baalman 4 kills and Gerson 5 kills.  Hardin-Calhoun only had 4 service errors in the loss.  Edinburg improved to 26-12, with the win, in spite of 9 service errors.  Craig finished with 4 kills, LeVault 5 points, Prince 1 point and 4 kills with 1 ace, Casey Smith 5 points, 6 assists and 2 kills, Megan Smith 4 points, Ashley Broccardo 8 points and 1 kill with 1 ace, Schroeder 7 points, 8 kills, 1 ace, 4 blocks and 1 ace, and Payne had 6 assists and 6 kills.  Alex Schroeder played a solid game tonight and came around with good senior leadership at just the right time to help with the win.         

Routt played well tonight and won a 25-13, 25-18 match with New Berlin.  The Pretzels had 2 points, 11 assists while Hammitt had 2 points and5 kills, Simpson 1 point, Wyatt 4 kills and 2 blocks.  Kloppe contributed 1 assist, 3 kills and 1 block, Volz 1 kill and Williams 3 points and 1 kill.  Routt got solid numbers from several players:  Garde 9 points, 9 assists, 3 kills and 1 block.  Tonry 3 points with 6 kills, Langdon had 5 points with 4 kills, McGee 1 kill and 1 block, West had 4 points with 1 assist, Halpin 3 points, Gross 6 kills and 2 blocks, Jockisch 1 point and 1 kill and Nix rounded out the scoring with 2 points, 6 assist and 2 kills.  Routt will play the host Trojans on Thursday and will try to get some pay back for their earlier loss during the regular season.    

On a rainy and wind-blown football field tonight West Central improved to 5-3 on the season with their 26-6 win over Routt Catholic who fell to 2-6.  It was poor field conditions as the Rockets were only able to rush for 48 yards while the Cougars tallied 220 yards.  Routt passed for 19 yards and an interception while West Central threw for 11 yards.  Routt had 5 penalties for 45 yards and West Central 7 for 80 yards.  The Rockets had 5 first downs and the Cougars 12.  Whalen had 9 yards, Stremau minus 10, Lonergan 42 with 1 touchdown, Birdsell 5 yards, Overton 1 yard and Lindsey 1 yard.  West Central won with 3 touchdowns from Boehs and 1 from Drew Barnett.  Corey Barnett rushed for 26 yards, Boehs 112, Reid 20, Drew Barnett 59, Weder 10, Bigalow 5 and Hoover 1.  Routt could not move the ball with any consistency and West Central pretty much dominated the game and time of possession.  West Central will finish their regular season at ISD next week and hope to finish the season with 6 wins and 3 losses.  Routt will play Greenfield/Northwestern at Palmyra and go for win number 3 on the year.     

In match #2 tonight the Meredosia Indians were a little too strong for Griggsville-Perry and defeated them 25-16, 25-12.  Meredosia has some of the hardest hitters, as a group, that we have seen this early season.  When they are on, they can really hurt their opponents from the service line.  Smith had 5 points, Fulkerson 4, Floyd 1, Shelby Campbelll 1, O'Connell 2 and Emily Campbell 15 in their win tonight.  Floyd added 4 assists and 3 kills as Campbelll had 3 assists and 4 kills and Sammi Smith 3 kills.  Griggsville-Perry just could stay with the hard hitting Indians through 2 games.  Vinyard had 4 points and Vose 3 to lead the way.  Vose added 2 assists and 1 kill while Bonds, Vinyard, Bingham and Whitaker each had a kill. Six service errors helped put the Tornadoes in the hole and they lost the match in 2 games.    

Brenda Lawless

Brenda Lawless

In a tough match Triopia dropped Meredosia 25-20, 25-20.  Morgan Floyd and Emily Campbell were strong in the loss. For Floyd, she had 3 points, 4 assists and 7 kills and Campbell had 4 points, 4 assists and 3 kills.  O'Connell had 4 points, Fulkerson 5 points and French 2 points.  For the Trojans, Washington scored 5 service points with 1 assist , 6 kills and 2 blocks.  Myer had 3 points, 5 assists and 3 kills and Carls was strong with 1 point and 6 kills.  Brooklyn Lacy had 5 points, Milby 5 assists and Katie Evans added 7 points and 4 assists.  

Hinsdale and Tri-Cities were the only undefeated teams left in the state play off and faced each other to see who would stay undefeated and play for the championship on Wednesday night. It was a very good game early as Hinsdale had the 3-1 lead after 3 innings.  Six runs in the 5th put the game away for Hinsdale and the earned a day off.  Tri-Cities had 8 hits and 3 runs in the game and Hinsdale finished with 14 hits and 10 runs.  Asplen led Tri-Cities with 2 hits and 6 other players had 1 hit.  It was a good game and they may meet in the title game. Loughlin had 3 hits to lead Hinsdale and 4 other batters had 2 hits with 3 more having 1 hit in the win.  It was an impressive outing and the Hinsdale defense stepped up again with some nice plays.  Brock Lewis played an excellent center field for Tri-Cities also and it makes you feel it was a preview of what we will see on Wednesday night.  Hinsdale has a larger group of pitchers to draw from as they have only played 2 games in the tournament to this point so Tri-Cities is going to have to have someone step up big to force that "if necessary" game on Thursday.  These are, in my opinion, the best two teams in the tournament with the most consistent play so - if they meet - it was be a fun championship game. 

In the first elimination game of the 2012 tournament, Olney gave up 7 runs in the first inning to Rock Falls and never recovered as they lost 15-5.  Olney had some chances but couldn't get the big hit to stay in the game.  Flanagan and McVicker had 2 hits each in the game today.  Flanagan had played solid defense from center field all tournament long and one of the better players in Rushville.  They had 9 hits, 5 runs and 2 errors in the loss.  Grant Wasson led the Rock Falls attack with a 3 for 4 day with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI's.  Velazquaz hit the ball hard with a 2 for 3 effort while Meenen and Schueler each added 2 hits. The Rock Falls team is up and down with their offense and when they are hot - they are hot.  7 of their players had hits in the game and I think they will be a hand full for Evergreen Park in their next game.  With Rock Falls coming around, with Hinsdale's defense and with Tri-Cities offense this tournament is shaping up to be what a championship tournament should be.

In the second game, Hinsdale scored 3 runs on 3 hits in the first inning and it looked like them may hit Olney's pitcher, McVicker, hard but it did not turn out that way.  McVicker pitched a complete game as he gave up 8 hits and his teammates played excellent defense behind him.  Flanagan was involved with 6 put outs in center field as he covered a lot of ground.  Olney only had 6 hits in the game with 1 earned run and 1 unearned run.  Hinsdale used 3 pitchers and, with the win, will get tomorrow night off.  They will play either Tri-Cities of Evergreen Park at 8:00 on Monday night.  Malchow, Guy Goss and Ryan Loughlin all scored in the first inning and made it stand up.  There were two big defensive innings that saved the game for Hinsdale.  In the 5th inning, Olney had the bases loaded and no one out.  Owen Goss came in in relief and, on his 2nd pitch, Owne Goss had a line drive hit right at him.  He made the catch, dropped the ball on the exchange, looked at second where he saw the runner off of the bag and threw the ball to the shortstop who tagged the runner between 2nd and 3rd.  Then, to finish it off, the runner from third broke for home and Loughlin threw him out as Phillips made the tag while blocking the plate.  You won't see that play made any better, on the high school level, and these are only 9 and 10 year olds.  Then, in the top of the 6th, Loughlin and Malchow made 2 excellent plays to rob Mays and Zuber of hits that could have potentially tied or won the game. In the win, Hinsdale, used 3 different pitchers and had hits from 8 different batters.  We saw 4 good teams today and will get introduced to Evergreen Park Sunday in what is shaping up to be a quality state tournament.   

In the second game tonight the Beardstown All-stars were just too tough with the bats as they knocked off the speedy Redbirds 15-3 behind their 14 hits.  Virginia had 3 hits and 3 runs with 4 costly errors and just couldn't get any sustained offense. The Beardstown team had 2 hits from Quigley, Cooper, Stambaugh, Montoya, Reich and Knous.  Cooper also made an excellent defensive play at 3rd base as Beardstown played a good over all game and will play in the championship game on Saturday night.  They will get a day off and wait to see who their opponent is going to be.  Whoever it is, will have to defeat Beardstown on Saturday night and again on Monday if they want to advance to the sectionals in Tuscola next week.  Coil, Stambaugh and Quigley combined to throw a very nice game tonight.  Marr pitched well for Virginia but his team defense weren't able to make the plays early and he had to leave after 64 pitches.  It was a fun game between to familiar rivals but Virginia has a tough road ahead if they want to win this championship.     

Jerseyville scored 9 in the first inning and cruised to a 16-1 win over Brown County tonight and looked more like the game we saw on day 1 than they did against Beardstown in their second game.  They will have to get past Rushville if they want a possible shot at Beardstown later in the tournament.  Tonight they got solid pitching from Stork, Wilson, Eathen Snider and Rice as they were never in danger of losing the game and certainly earned the right to play in the quarter finals on Thursday at 6:00.  They are a nice looking ball team and the only concern is their inability to stay with Beardstown in their 10 run loss.  Was that just a bad game or will Rushville, Virginia or Beardstown expose an inconsistent side of the Panthers.  I like what I see but I do have a question in the back of my mind and am looking forward to the next round of games for the 4 remaining teams. Jackson had 3 more hits tonight for Jerseyville while Vanost, Quinn Snider and Rudolph all had 2. Stopping their hitting is the #1 priority for any teams they face.    

Game #2 was closely contested early with a 2-2 game at the top of the 4th.  Then Virginia erupted with 8 runs and opened up the game.  They had to hold on at the end but the final was 10-7 and earned the Redbirds the up-coming match up with Beardstown.  This will be a contrast in hitting and a similarity in base running with two of the fastest players in the tournament on the field. Marr from Virginia and Quigley from Beardstown are dangerous on the base paths and will create havoc if you don't watch them.  Virginia only had 7 hits in their first win of the tournament and 4 last night and they will hope for some help from the Tiger pitchers in their next game.  Rushville spread out their 7 hits and played pretty good defense but just didn't have enough sustained fire power to stay in the game early.  They did show they are gamers as they came back with 4 runs in the final inning to close the gap and it will hopefully propel them into their game with the Pike County All-stars.  Hulvey had a couple of strong hits and Seaver made some nice plays defensively but they will need to step it up a little as they try to make their run through the grueling consolation bracket.       

Virginia won the nightcap with a 10-5 victory over Brown County. This is a light hitting Virginia squad, if last night is an indication of their bats.  The thing they do is run the bases aggressively and force their opponents to make mistakes that end up in Redbird runs.  They had 7 hits, 10 runs and 3 errors last night and used 4 pitchers.  Brown County used 4 pitchers as well as they had 5 hits and made 3 errors as well.  Lars Reische hit the ball very well last night as he went 3 for 4 in the loss.  Blake Marr had 3  hits for Virginia and Garrett Snow added 2 more.  Bell started the game on the mound and scored 3 runs also but when this team faces Rushville on Tuesday night, it will be interesting to see if they hit the ball a little better.  The were walked 9 times and had 4 batters hit in the game and most teams will not give them that many base runners.  When they get on however, watch them go.  

Pike County continued to show their strength tonight as they defeated Rushville 12-2.  To the credit of the Rushville team, they hung around and only trailed 5-0 into the 5th inning.  The Rockets could only score 2 runs in the loss on 3 hits.  Garcia led the way with 2 of the 3 hits.  Pike County, on the other hand, had 16 hits and 12 runs with 3 more home runs.  Tenecyk, Stinebaker and Personett all went yard in the game and the shot by Personett was the longest one I have seen in 8 years of little league action.  Stinebaker has had a great tournament so far and added 4 more hits this evening.  In their 3 games, the Pike County team has only used 3 pitchers also, so they can come at you in a variety of ways.  They will take on either Brown County or Rushville on Saturday night for the 11-12 year old championship. 

The second game was close for a while, then the hard hitting Pike County team took command and the 12-1 win over Brown County.  Wort had the only hit for the Hornets as they used 4 pitchers in their effort to slow down their opponent.  Pike Co. showed they not only hit the ball well (15 hits) but they play good defense as well.  They have 35 hits and 35 runs in two games and have only allowed 3 runs.  Personett threw a solid game with 11 strike outs and 5 walks.  He was in charge and never in any serious trouble all night long.  Pike County will try to keep the pressure on as they take on Rushville at 8:00 on Thursday.  

In the second game, it was a partial repeat of the first game as Pike County scored 7 runs in the top of the first and then put on an offensive show with 23 runs over all on 20 hits.  Jon Moore also pitched well as he only allowed Beardstown 3 hits and 2 runs in the win.  Beardstown also made 5 errors in their losing effort and will need to re-group before Wednesday.  Stinebaker had a 4 for 5 night with a homerun, 2 triples and a double.  Personett was also strong with a 3 for 3 game and 4 runs scored.  Tenecyk,   Moore, Shaw and Gresham all had 2 hits in the game also.  Pike County only made 1 error as they set themselves up for tomorrow's game with Brown County at 8:00. 

Beardstown and Calhoun are two of the stronger teams in the tournament and took undefeated records into today's game. The winner would get the chance to play for the title on Sunday with an advantage.  It was a game dominated early by Calhoun due to the errors for Beardstown (4).  Beardstown fought back however and scored 3 runs in the 6th inning as they lost the 8-7 game.  Calhoun only had 3 hits in the game but their aggressive base running and the Tiger errors allowed them to score 8 times and they had an 8-2 lead at one time.  Beardstown had 10 hits in the loss as Hobrock, Sommers, McWilliams and Mullin all had two. Emily Baalman led the Calhoun squad with 2 hits and Margherio recorded the win.  She, uncharacteristically, walked 7 batters as she had to hold on in the end.  Dour walked 5 and hit 1 while throwing 3 wild pitches in the loss.  These are two good pitchers and they will face off again on Sunday night for the championship.  If Beardstown prevails, they will play again on Monday night.    

Rushville and Pike Co. had their backs against the wall tonight as it was an elimination game.  Belville (Rushville) and Woodward (Pike Co.) went toe to toe for 6 innings before Rushville won the hard-fought 2-1 game. Utterback had the only hit for Pike Co. and the run was unearned however, this was a team who was going to go down fighting.  They missed scoring on a couple of earlier opportunities but tied it in the 5th and lost it in the bottom of the 6th.  Rushville only had 4 hits themselves but they were timely as Ingles drove in Chockley 2nd and again in the 6th for the 2 runs.  Belville picked up the win and went 2 for 3 in the game.  It was a nail-biter but Rushville survived to play another day.  They will face a similar Jerseyville team on Friday in a game they can win and would get a shot at either Beardstown or Calhoun in the semi-final round on Saturday. 

In the second game of the night, Beardstown was dominant and won the 23-5 decision over Rushville.  They scored 14 runs isn the second inning and were never challenged in the game. Dour took the win and Belville the loss.  Rushville had 3 hits and 5 runs as they scored late in the game.  They will take on Pike County tomorrow at 8:00 in an elimination game.  Beardstown had 16 hits as they played well offensively and never committed any errors in the game. Hobrock had 4 hits while Sommers, Dour and McWilliams had 3 hits each.  They have Wednesday off and will face Jerseyville or Calhoun on Thursday.  Even though it is only the first round, Beardstown looked to be the deepest team in the early round.  We have not seen Jerseyville however and will know more after tomorrow night.  It might not happen but, a game between Beardstown and Calhoun is intriguing. 

In the opener the 23-7 Rockets of Routt Catholic and the 29-6 Pawnee Indians opposed each other.  They had played on 3/21 and Routt won the tight 4-3 game.  There was a lot on the line today and both teams put the #1 pitcher on the mound.  Nick Lonergan was 7-0 with an 1.53 ERA.  Dalton Doerfler of Pawnee had a 7-1 mark with an ERA of 1.70.  Both teams had solid hitting up and down the line up and it was a toss up game.  Pawnee had 8 hits, 3 runs, 0 errors and they left 6 runners on base as they defeated Routt 3-1.  The Indians scored all of their runs in the 3rd inning with 4 hits.  Routt scored their solo run in the 6th and left 9 runners on base in the loss.  They had runners at 2nd and 3rd in the 1st and again in the 3rd and never got them home. Lonergan walked 1 and struck out 6 in the loss and Doerfler walked 6 and struck out 10 for the win.  Young had 2 of the Rockets 6 hits in the game and Birdsell, running for Bickhaus scored the only run for Routt.  Bailey, Doerfler and Henneman had the RBI's for Pawnee as Henneman, Howell and Shepherd crossed the plate.  While Routt is out of the play offs, they had a year to be proud of and they are young so expect them to play well again next season.  As for the Indians, they will face the Griggsville-Perry Tornadoes at noon on Saturday for the title.

Game #2 was as exciting as the opener as Griggsville-Perry scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th to defeat the Panthers of Delavan 3-2.  Dillon Hodges pitched for Delavan and pretty much had things the way he wanted for biggest part of the game. The Panthers had 4 errors in the game and gave up 2 unearned runs as they ended their season with 21 wins and 10 losses.  The Panthers scored both of their runs in the 3rd and were hoping to hold on but the Tornadoes were opportunistic and took advantage of some mistakes to steal the win at the end. Mason Coggins led the Panthers with a couple of hits and a run scored as Delavan finished with 6 hits, 2 runs, 4 errors and they left 2 runners on base.  Hodges walked 1 and struck out 8 in the loss. Craven threw 112 pitches in the win and doggedly went about his business, walking 1 and striking out 8 also.  He got some great defensive support, especially from Isaac Whitaker at shortstop.  Whitaker and Rumple had the only 2 hits for Griggsville-Perry as they manufactured some runs off of the Delavan mistakes and Bradshaw, who got on vis a throwing error scored the winning run as Tedrow picked up the game winning sacrifice fly ball to center field.  Griggsville-Perry has been like a roller coaster this year but when they are up they are very good and worked hard for their win today.  They will have to play another good game on Saturday as they take on the fundamentally strong Indians of Pawnee.  I think it will be a championship quality game so be sure you head for Lewistown to catch all of the action.       

In game 3 today, at the Plains tournament, the Triopia Trojans were shut out 9-0 by the Athens Warriors.  They had defeated the Warriors 2-1 in their earlier meeting.  Perkins, Weatherby and Boston all had 2 hits in the win and Weatherby threw 7 innings for the win as he improved to 5-0 on the season.  He walked 3 and struck out 6.  Athens had 9 runs with 9 hits, 3 errors and 5 runners left on base.  For the Trojans, they fell to 9-9 on the year and could only muster 4 hits in the loss. Adam Hageman had a good game with 2 hits and he also threw 2 2/3 innings while taking the loss. 

In the second game of the day, Routt knocked off Springfield Southeast 7-4.  The Spartans had 4 runs on 7 hits and commited 6 errors while leaving 9 runners on base. Williams and Erret had 2 hits each and Harris suffered the loss after 4 1/3 innings of work.  Routt won, behind Dylan Jones as they had 7 hits in the game with Lonergan leading the way with 2 hits, 2 runs scored and 1 RBI.  He also pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for the save. Routt made 3 errors in the win and left 5 runners on base. They did not play great ball but, they did play well enough to post the win.  With the win, Routt improved to 17-5 in the win. 

In the opening game of a 4 game set at the Plains Tournament, the Williamsville Bullets improved to 17-3 on the season. Meyer had 3 hits and Jeffers 2 to lead the Bullets. Eight of the hitters had at least 1 hit in the win and 8 different players scored at least 1 run. Williamsville had 11 hits, 13 runs, 3 errors and they left 7 runners on base.  Kyle Jones was the winning pitcher and Leo Herzberger recorded the loss.  John Love scored the only run for the Trojans as they fell to 9-8 on the year.  Triopia had 3 hits, 1 run and committed 5 errors.  They left the bases loaded twice and were unable to score.   

In the second game, the Rockets got out to a 4-1 lead through 4 innings, then walked 2 in the 6th, made an error in the 7th and lost their lead so extra innings were necessary.  Rushville Industry loaded the bases with no outs in the 7th and were not able to score.  They loaded them again in the 9th and Thurman had the game winning hit as they knocked off Lewistown 5-4 to earn the split.  The Indians had 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 error and they left 10 runners on base.  R-I had 11 hits, 5 runs, 3 errors and they left 8 on base.  Ingle started for the Rockets and Canter came in to post the win.  Beekman went 6 innings for the Indians and Shubert suffered the loss after 2 innings of work.  It was a fun couple of games to call and very competitive.  The Indians ended the day 6-4 and the Rockets 4-4.     

The last time White Hall North Greene and West Central played, it was a one point win for the Cougars.  Tonight it looked like it was going to come down to the wire again.  The Cougars finally got a big trey from Bettis in the 4th to get a little breathing room as they went on to win 42-34.  The Spartans had their chances late in the game and could not make a crucial shot.  Halie Kraushaar had 12 points to lead WHNG while Elliott scored 10 and Hull 8.  The Spartans proved once again you cannot have 20 turnovers and win many games.  West Central only had 8 turnovers as they won their 18th game of the season.  West Central only hit 24% of their shots  and 14 of 27 from the free throw line as they played just well enough to win the game and get a shot at the championship game tomorrow night against their arch rival, the Routt Catholic Rockets. Lietz led the Cougars with 14 points and some big late game free throws.  Carmody had 3 treys in the game and 4 fourth quarter free throws to help preserve the win.  

Princeville shot 18 three point shots and made 11 (61%) of them in route to their 56-25 win over Elmwood.  Princeville only had 7 players on their roster and 2 of them were injured.  They added 2 freshman to their roster and played them late in the game. One of their challenges tonight was to stay out of foul trouble and they did a great job as none of their starters had more than one foul.  Potter (19), Dorrington (18) and Streitmatter (10) all had double digit scoring while Kieseer added 6 and Bridson 2 in the win.  The hit 54% of their shots and were 0 for 2 from the free throw line as they didn't penetrate much to get fouled.  The Princes only had 10 turnovers in the game also as they played an all around solid game.  If they can play this type of ball on Thursday, they will have a decent shot at upsetting Illini Bluffs. Of course the defensive pressure the Tigers will bring will be a lot harder to dominate.  Seven of the Lady Trojans scored in the game but their scoring leader only had 6 points (McCoy and Frietsch) and they just couldn't sustain any serious offense with their 9 of 41 performance.  They knocked down 4 of 6 free throws and had 12 turnovers in the loss. Princeville will bring a 19 and 9 record into the title game on Thursday.  When these teams played each other earlier in the year, it was a 5 point Tiger win.    

Granite City and Carrollton played for 3rd place and the Warriors hit 12 of 16 treys in the 55-45 win.  Luehmann hit 7 3's, a deuce and 2 free throws in the win.  Schaus recorded 4 treys also and 14 total points.  Wartenbe had one 3 along with one 2 and 2 free throws for 7 points and O'Keefe added 7.  The Hawks didn't play as bad as the score indicated but when you play someone as hot as Granite City, it is hard to win.  Coonrod and Williams each scored 13 and Cook in the loss.  Carrollton's next game will be pressure packed also as they face West Central in Winchester and will need to get ready for the Calhoun Regional where they are the #2 seed behind Calhoun.

Routt Catholic was fresh off of losing to the #1 seed QND Raiders and had to face the #2 seed Pana Panthers. They had a roller coaster type of game and eventually lost 60-48 to a pretty good team. Gross and Garde had 17 points each and the 10 for 19 performance from the free throw line didn't help matters. Even with the loss, the Rockets are hoping to lock up the WIVC conference regular season next week but, they have to knock off the Calhoun Warriors on Monday at the Routt Dome.  Pana is without their top scorer but are a good team and got a great game from Waddington off of the bench.  She scored 22 and Charley Lett added 12 while Vaughn scored 9.  

QND came into the 38th annual Lady Hawk and left as the champion.  They defeated Calhoun 72-24 in a convincing win as they improved to 24-1 on the season.  They are the #1 seed in the 2A state tournament and I have not personally seen any team that looks like they can beat them.  Frericks scored 19, Kassidy Gengenbacher scored 13, Kuhn 12, Martin 12 and Kristen Gengenbacher 10 as the well balanced Raiders jumped out to a quick lead and were never challenged in the game.  They will play in the Beardstown regional in post season play.  The Calhoun Warriors never got their offense in gear and were no match for QND as they lost their 3rd game of the season. They can concentrate on Routt on Monday and try to win the WIVC conference outright.  They will also host their own regional and sectional this season as they hope to make a strong run in post season play.  Everything starts with the Rockets on Monday. 

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM:  Emily Bystry and Joanna Gross (Routt), Jordan Wilson (A. Marquette), Kassidy Gengenbach, Tori Kuhn, Jordan Frericks (QND), Patsy Coonrod (Carrollton), Emalie Thornton (Jerseyville), Maddie Baalman, Jocie Klocke (Calhoun), Andrea Lietz (West Central), Paige Luehmann (Granite City) and Charlie Lett (Pana).

Carrollton got all over the South Fulton Rebels and defeated them 80-28 in tonight's action. Casey Jones had 14 points for the Rebels and no one else had more than 4 points.  The 16% from the field and 50% free throw shooting, along with the 20 turnovers was way out of line for the Rebels to win.  Carrollton had 4 players, Fraley (25), Coonrod (16), Watson (13) and Kraut (13) to run all over South Fulton. The Hawks hit 16 of 24 from the free throw lines and 27 for 62 from the field with 16 turnovers.

Triopia got off to a good start tonight with a 23-6 lead over Havana and hung on for the 52-38 lead.  Atwater and Stinauer had 10 points each in the loss and the game put them into the 5th and 6th game with Beardstown.  The Trojans had 8 players in the scoring column as Love and Herzberger each recorded 10. Bangert and Huddleston had 8 points each as Triopia hit 49% of their shots and only had 9 turnovers in the win.  The Trojan game with WHNG will be a hard hitting ball game between a couple of WIVC opponents.

Beardstown and Rushville is a good rivalry and tonight was no different.  The Tigers won the 46-32 game after Rushville lead the entire first half. Austin Jones led the Rockets with 14 points but the 15 turnovers hurt the chances for Rushville to win the game. The Rockets also had early foul trouble which kept them from substituting the way they wanted.  Patterson had the best game I have seen him play this season with 16 points and Watson added 11 in the Tiger win. Gus Vermillion also played well with 8 points and a hard nosed effort in the paint.  Beardstown did a good job taking care of the ball with only 9 turnovers and were the better team tonight.    

Midwest Central and WHNG were both 2-0 coming into tonight's second game.  The Raiders had beaten the Spartans pretty handily at the IC shoot out earlier in the season.  Tonight the Raiders won again but this time it wasn't so easy.  WHNG led most of the game and set the pace however, Midwest Central came back late and held on for the win. Berg is a hand full and led the Raiders with 24 points while Sarff was hot from long range and finished with 12. Meyer also had a couple of treys for 8 points total.  Hitting 12 of 15 free throws helped the Raider's cause also.  Tucker and Wear each had 12 points for the Spartans while Davis scored 9 and Roesch 7 in the loss.  WHNG showed their ability to shoot from the free throw line as well as they knocked down 14 of 16 shots which allowed them to stay close at the end.  They had 4 attempts at a 3-point bucket to tie the game but none of them fell. It was an exciting game full of suspense and came right down to the wire.

In the final game of the evening the Triopia Trojans shot 25 three points shots and hit 11 of them to defeat South Fulton 58-28. They hit 39% from the field and only 30% from the free throw line but, they also only had 7 turnovers on the night.  They are now 1-1 in the tournament and will have to place good game on Friday when they face the Havana Ducks.  Breedlove had a very nice game with 11 points to lead the Rebels tonight.  Jones hit 3 treys for 9 points as well as South Fulton hit 43% of their shots from the field.  Their 15 turnovers didn't help their cause tonight and the Trojans out rebounded them in the game as well.  The Rebels will have to play extremely well on Friday if they hope to defeat the Carrollton Hawks.      

Quincy Notre Dame jumped out to a 16-2 lead over the Warriors of Granite City and it was never close as they ran away to a 51-27 win.  Kristen Gengenbacher hit 13 and Martin 10 was 9 Raiders scored in the convincing win.  They will take on Routt Catholic tomorrow in the semi-final round.  QND only turned the ball over 8 times and forced 19 turnovers on the Warriors. Luehman had a good game with 14 points and Wartenbe hit 7 to lead Granite City in the loss.  In the Raiders early game this season with Routt Catholic, they won by 51 points and the Rockets will have to have the best game they have maybe ever played to put the heat on this strong opponent.

Routt Catholic came in as the #4 seed in the Tournament and the Panthers of Jerseyville were #5.  That was the way the game was played and turned out tonight as Routt defeated Jerseyville 55-51 with some late ball control and free throws.  Thornton was very good inside and knocked down 17 points.  Steckel hit 15 in the game also and it was almost enough to pull out the win. Their 20 turnovers was a big factor in their loss.  Gross scored 20 and Bystrey 10 to lead the Rockets. Tonry hit a couple of big 3's to help with the offense.  Routt hit 77% of their free throws with 7 of 8 in the 4th quarter to lock down the win. This was a pressure packed game and gave Routt the opportunity to face the #1 seed tomorrow.   

North Green opened the night with a 53-38 win over Rushville Industry.  Wear was hot with 16 points and Davis put up his usual double-digit (15) numbers in the win. The Spartans hit 40% of their shots as compared to 28% shooting by the Rockets also.  The Rockets did well from the line with a 4 for 4 effort but, once again, the attacking nature of the Spartans put them on the line 13 times.  They only hit 46% of those shots, which is a little low, so their field goals made the difference.  North Greene is averaging only 11 turnovers a game through the tournament to this point and that is a good number.  The Spartans hit 2 of 9 from beyond the arc and the Rockets attempted 18 treys with 4 gong through the basket. Unfortunately that is how you end up with only 4 free throw attempts in a game.  The Spartans will take on Midwest Central on Thursday to see who plays in the title game on Saturday.

Carrollton and Triopia made their first appearance of the tournament and it was a fun game.  Coonrod was looking for 7 points which would put him over 1,000 for his high school career.  He scored 10 in the end. Watson was strong with 18 points as Triopia let him shoot too many uncontested 3's. He made 4 of 9 attempts and added a couple of deuces and 2 free throws.  Palan scored 8 points off of the bench as the Hawks shot 41% from the field and 80% from the free throw line with 9 turnovers.  Those are solid numbers that will win you a lot of games.  Love had a good night offensively for the Trojans with 16 points as he hit 6 of 8 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line. Triopia decided to play the game from the outside and shot 21 treys (6 made) which only put them at the line 4 times in the game.  The Trojans and Hawks still have to face South Fulton and Havana in their division.

In the night cap, Midwest Central and Beardstown had 35 fouls called as they went toe to toe in the Raider's 55-44 win. The Tigers made 5 of 10 free throws in the loss while Midwest Central knocked down 23 of 32.  They shot relatively equal from the field as Beardstown hit 14 of 34 and the Raiders were 18 of 47.  They were also equal in turnovers.  If you are going to get out scored by 18 at the free throw line, you have a lot of work to do to make up the difference. Beardstown hit 2 of 12 from long range and Midwest Central was 4 of 11. Good effort by the Tigers but they came up short.  They are 0-2 and will face the 0-2 Rockets of Rushville-Industry at 8:00 on Friday night.  These natural rivals always put on a good show.  It may not be pretty but, it will be entertaining.       

Game #1 featured Rushville-Industry Rockets against the Raiders of Midwest Central.  A lot of people were surprised when the Rockets played a very tough game and had a legitimate chance to pick up the win.  The final score was 53-51 in favor of Midwest Central but they had to work hard to earn the victory. Berg scored 17 and Meyer 10 to lead the Raiders.  Jones scored 11 in the second half and 13 over to lead R-I and Plater had a good night with 11. The difference in the game came from the free throw line where Midwest Central was 17 of 24 (71%) and the Rockets hit 8 of 18 (44%).

South Fulton got behind early in the game against Havana and just couldn't make any sustained run to get back into it.  They lost 50-31 to Ducks.  Again, 71% free throw shooting for Havana and 50% free throw shooting for the Rebels made a big difference in the game.  Wright and Atwater each scored 10 for Havana while Breedlove led South Fulton with 7 points.  This is a young Rebel team but, they are going to have to get some fire power to keep up with the stronger teams in the area. They hit 28% of their shots while the winning team shot 40% and that is a huge difference if you don't knock down your shots from the charity stripe.

In the final game of night one, the North Greene Spartans showed their "blue collar" style of play and relentlessly attacked the Tigers of Beardstown.  The Spartans won 45-34 and hit 18 of 19 free throws in the process.  Beardstown only made 2 of 5 and the 5 may be the more important of the numbers.  When you attack like the Spartans do, you are gong to the line and that is an important part of the game.  Beardstown put up 45 shots while North Greene only shot 37 and they had equal turnovers so, shot selection and free throws made the difference in this game. The Spartans made 3 of 13 treys and the Tigers made 1 of 12 so the offensive boards and second chances, which caused Tiger fouls, made North Greene the winner.     

Routt knocked off Brussels 71-51 as they shot 39% from the field and 77% from the free throw line.  They only had 10 turnovers with 5 Rockets in double digits.  Garde led the way with 20, Gross scored 14, Halpin 13, Tonry 12 and Bystrey 10.  Hannah Polhman led the Raiders with 17 points as Kamp (9), Moennig (9), and Renee Tepen (8) all added to the game.  Brussels shot 60% from the field and 50% from the free throw line with 35 turnovers as they had trouble with the Rockets defensive pressure.  Routt will play Jerseyville at 8:00 on Wednesday night.

Jerseyville dominated Greenfield from the beginning and won their match up 63-36.  Kristen Bishop played very well with 19 points for the Tigers but it wasn't enough.  Greenfield turned the ball over 24 times and just didn't have enough offense to win the game.  The Panthers had 4 players in double digits:  Thurston 18, Steckel 17, Wittman 10 and Thornton 10 as they spread the ball around and hit 23 of 60 shots in the win.  They also knocked down 9 of 14 free throws and took care of the ball with only 8 turnovers.  When they play Routt on Wednesday, they will be severely tested with their ball handling and will have to pick up their team speed.  It should be a good game.  Jerseyville is 15 and 6 and the Rockets are 16 and 4 on the year.

In our final broadcast on day one, the #1 seed QND Raiders dispatched the West Central Cougars 56-25.  The Cougars tried to run time off of the clock with each possession and hold the score down a little and it worked but they still lost by 31.  Carmody had a nice game with 10 points and Lietz scored 8 but the Raiders were just too tall, too fast and too strong as they led from wire to wire. Eleven of the Raiders scored in the win as Kuhn led the way with 11 points and only played about half of the game. Martin came in off of the bench with 10 points and Frerick scored 8 as the QND improved to 21 and 1 on the season. QND had 8 turnovers in the game and forced 20 on the Cougars. They are the favored team to win the tournament and while, for a short time, it looked like Pana may challenge them but, with a key injury the Panthers are going to have to work to get to the title game.        

For the consolation title, it was Triopia finishing strongly to knock off Greenfield 36-24.  Clayton had 18 points in the win and Liz Bishop led the Tigers with 9 points in the loss.  The Trojans lost in the first round and came all the way back for the title and a record of 8 and 11 on the season.

Routt suffered a disappointing loss to West Central on Thursday night and it was important they played well today as they took on one of their WIVC rivals Carrollton.  The prize was 3rd place in the tournament and the Rockets were up to the task.  They won by 19 (64-45) to improve to 13-4 on the year.  Garde scored 16, Gross 15 and Halpan 10, Langdon 8 and Bystry 8 in the Rocket's well balanced offensive attack. They hit 55% of their shots and 58% from the free throw line.  Coonrod scored 15 for the Hawks who hit 16 of 34 from the field and 10 for 19 from the line. These two teams still have a regular season conference game to play before the end of the season.

West Central came into the championship game as the #6 seed in the tournament and an underdog to the #1 seed Panthers of Litchfield.  They led for the first 3 quarters and had a 29-22 lead heading into the 4th.  The height and strength of the Panthers prevailed as they posted the come from behind 42-35 victory and the title.  Lietz scored 13, Bettis 9 and Carmody 9 to lead the Cougars who will leave the tournament with a 2nd place trophy and a record of 11-7.  Litchfield has been trying for 8 years to win the Lady Spartan and got it done today.  Going scored 16 to lead 9 Panthers in the scoring column.  Litchfield had too many turnovers to be comfortable as they had 18 in the first half and 7 in the second.  They did the right thing at the right time and they have a very young team to build on for the next few years. They will lose some good seniors but that freshman class is very promising.

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM:  Lietz from W. Central, Williams and Coonrod from Carrollton, Clayton-Triopia, O'Brien-Pittsfield, Fore of WFNB, Bystry-Routt, Going and Smith from Litchfield and Harris of Beardstown.      

West Central led all the way, the first time they played Routt, and they lost in the end.  Tonight the Cougars led until late in the game and you got the feeling they may lose again.  This time it didn't happen as they held on and Lietz made the winning basket with 17 seconds left on the clock.  Routt had one more try with 6.1 seconds left but got called for traveling and turned the ball over with 1.9 seconds left and that was the game.  In the overall picture, Routt did not play a good game tonight but the final traveling call did not lose the game. They missed 9 free throws and that is deadly in a 1 point game.  They let Cougar players get by for easy lay ups on several occasions and will need to shore up their defense if they want to make a good run in the balance of the season.  West Central is a much better team, in my opinion, than they were early in the season but they still need to find a way to take better care of the ball at crunch time.  It will be fun to see how they play the taller and more veteran Panthers for the championship. Lietz led with 15 points as Carmody scored 10 and Bettis 8.  Kilver chipped in with 7 points and Abby Lashmett added 5 and the well rounded scoring for West Central was helpful in their win.  Both the championship game and the 3rd place game will be hotly contested as this has been a good tournament with parity in the competition.   

West Central knew they would have some trouble with the height of the WFNB Scotties and they did.  WFNB led most of the game tonight but, the Cougars had a 4th quarter surge with 18 points and won the 55-48 battle.  With the win, the Cougars will face their old nemesis Routt Catholic at 7:30 Thursday.  Fore (17) and Loos (12) led the Scotties attack but Nichols and Peebles are a couple of upcoming freshmen.  64% shooting from the field and 66% free throw shooting wasn't enough to overcome the 25 turnovers. West Central stayed with their game plan and were led in scoring by Lietz with 23 points, Carmody 11 and Abby Lashmett 11 points.  They only hit 36% of the shots but they had a 21 for 27 free throw shooting night and 14 turnovers.  Hitting 12 of 15 4th quarter free throws helped preserve the victory. The Thursday match up with Routt will be played in front of a large crowd and is a game that is up for grabs. Don't miss it.  

In the second game of the night, the Routt Rockets did not look sharp but did win their game with WHNG 41-25.  Seven of the Rockets scored in the game as they shot 34% from the field and hit 15 of 27 free throws.  Bystrey led the way with 10 points and Langdon had her best game of the year with 9 points.  Halie Kraushaar scored 10 for the Spartans but no one else got more than 5 points in the contest.  Routt will play either WFNB or West Central on Thursday night in the semi-final round.  WHNG will play the loser of the West Central/WFNB game.   

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM:  Taylor McClintock and Kenzie Wall of Illini Bluffs;  Samantha Ellsworth and Jill Friedrich of Havana; Joanna Gross and Emily Bystry of Routt Catholic; Kristyn LeGrande and Delanie Monn of Lewistown; Shea O'Brien of Pittsfield; Lauren Gronewold of Illini West;, Rachel Rush of Mendon Unity and Andrea Lietz of West Central.  The Terry Kennedy Award went to Taylor McClintock.   

Pleasant Plains won a 42 to 30 game over Triopia as they hit 17 of 40 shots.  Eight of the Cardinals scored in the game as they took care of the ball with only 14 turnovers.  Clayton lead the Trojans with 17 points and Washington had a pretty good game with 7 points.  Poor shooting (12 of 40) did not help the cause for Triopia.

Pittsfield had a great game against Havana last night but, today they got beaten 63 to 36 by Illini West.  Lauren Gronewold led the Chargers with 29 points and Bastert hit double figures with 10.  They had 24 of 63 shots and 10 of 14 from the line.  They also kept the turnovers reasonable with 16 while forcing 30. For the Saukees, O'Brien scored 18 points as the team found it hard to play back to back games with the same enthusiasm.  The Chargers will play Mendon Unity at 2:30 pm on Thursday.

In a close game, Canton dropped Brown County 33 to 25 and will take on Lewistown at 4:00 tomorrow.  The Hornets shot 27% from the field and 44% from the line as Mosby led the way with 7 points.  Canton shot 36% from field, 60% from the free throw line with 13 turnovers.  Martindale scored 13 points to lead the Little Giants.

Lewistown got off to a quick start and led every quarter as they handed West Hancock a 69-54 loss.  Dewald (16) and Hartweg (15) were the scoring leaders for the Titans in the loss.  West Hancock put up 82 shots in the game and turned the ball over 18 times.  The Indians were 27 of 60 in field goals and 6 of 10 from the charity stripe and turned the ball over 30 times.  LeGrande scored 27 points and Monn 22 as they won their 3rd game of the tournament.  

Illini Bluffs came into the Lady Tiger as the #2 seed and will play in the title game tomorrow.  They got past Macomb 60-51 and never trailed in the game.  McClintock scored 25 points in the game and Kenzie Wall added 21.  They will pose an interesting challenge for the Ducks tomorrow night.  The Tigers took care of the ball with only 15 turnovers in the game. Saddler led the Bombers with 13 points however, Westen (7), Thoroman (7) and Mahr (7) all contributed in the game to keep it close.  These two teams played earlier in the season and the Tigers won 63-60.

When Routt Catholic defeated Illini West, it looked like they would have a decent chance of defeating the #1 seed Havana Ducks as well.  It didn't work out that way as the Rockets never got to the same level they played against the Chargers.  They lost 58-36 and were never really in the game.  While they tied the Ducks (22) in turnovers, it was the rebounding that did the Rockets in.  They put up 35 shots while Havana shot 53 times and while they had the same percentages, the sheer number of shots gave Havana the advantage.  Gross (16) and Bystrey (13) played pretty well but their supporting cast never got into a good flow.  Routt will play Macomb for 3rd place at 6:00 tomorrow.  The Havana Ducks were not super sharp either however, they did enough to win the game.  They had numerous 2nd and 3rd chances due to solid offensive rebounding and they made it stand up.  Friedrich scored 20 and Ellsworth 12 to lead 7 other team members in their offensive attack.  Havana was the better team tonight and earned the right to play for the championship tomorrow when they face the Tigers from Illini Bluffs.       

Farmington and Canto battled hard with the Farmers leading the early part of the game and the Little Giants finally coming out on top 53-49.Jenna Putrich led  10 Farmington players in the scoring column with 16 points as they shot 33% from the field and turned the ball over 19 times.  They will play Liberty tomorrow at 11:30.  Canton has been a good competitor in the tournament so far this year as they nearly beat West Central in their opener and had well balanced scoring in their game today.  Nine players scored with Martindale (15) leading the way. Turgeon (9), Chasteen (8), Buchman (7) and Fletcher (6) all chipping in.  They hit 36% of their field goal shots and only turned it over 13 times. They will play at 3:00 on Wednesday as they face the Brown Co. Hornets.

The Lewistown Indians had 9 players score in their attack against Triopia as they won 45-31.  Monn scored 10 and LeGrande 8 in the win as Lewistown improved to 8-8 on the season. Clayton (9) was the leading scorer for the Trojans but 7 players put their name in the history books of the Lady Tiger Tournament this year.  Wednesday's game with Pleasant Plains may be more to the liking of the Trojans in regard to the pace of the game but, they will have to take good care of the ball against the pesky Cardinals.  Lewistown will have to be ready for the ever changing line up of players coming into the game for West Hancock.

The Routt/Illini West Battle was an intense, set on the edge of your seat game, from the out set.  There were 99 free thros shot in the game with 57 fouls and 69 turnovers in this up and down the court affair.  It was a roller coaster ride for both teams and the Rockets of Routt came out on top 63-51.  It was the #5 team getting past the #4 team and the win put the Rockets into the semi-final round where they will face the #1 seed Havana Ducks.  Lauren Gronewold (13) and Bastert (11) led the Charger attack and they were relentless with team pressure on the defensive side of the ball.  Bystrey showed solid senior leadership as she hit 14 points in the victory.  Tonry added 10 and Garde came off the bench to score 8.  While only hitting 9 field goals in the game, the Rockets were able to convert 44 of their 66 free throw shots into points and stayed strong late in the game at crunch time.  It was a nice team effort of defense and intensity that Routt will have to match again tomorrow as they go for an upset against the undefeated Ducks.  Illini West will take on an improving Pittsfield team at 1:30.

Macomb is one of those team in the tournament who seem to be getting better and better.  They had a close battle with the #3 seeded Mendon Unity Mustangs and came out on top 43 to 41. The Bombers lost to Illini Bluffs back early in the season (by 6) and have fought their way into a semi-final match up with the #2 seed Illini Bluffs team for Wednesday.  That may be one of the more interesting games on the day.  Saddler, who is speedy and savvy, scored 12 points in the win as Westen (9) and Mahr (8) were among 6 players who added to the points.  It was a nice combination of pressure defense and timely shooting that propelled the Bombers past the Mustangs.  The Mustangs  had 3 players (Rush, Begeman,Moore)  with 9 points each but could only hit 10 of 24 free throws in the loss. That's tough when you only lose by 2.  With the loss, the Mustangs will now face West Central in the next round.      

The Tigers of Illini Bluffs jumped out to a 17-14 first quarter lead and never looked back as they played steady ball and knocked off the #7 Cougars of West Central.  For West Central, they had 27 turnovers and only shot 33% from the free throw line.  Their biggest problem was the slashing moves of McClintock and power of Kenzie Wall who had 46 of the 66 Tiger points.  The Cougars are not a big team and had no answer for the strength of Wall who had her way in the paint.  McClintock was her usual smooth self and hit 25 (her season average) while Kenzie Wall scored 21.  There were 6 other Illini Bluffs players in the scoring column in this well-balanced attack.  Consistency and fundamental basketball were the words of the day for the Tigers as they hit 56% from the field and 10 of 19 free throws with only 16 turnovers.  Their re-match with Macomb will be fun to watch. As for West Central, they will have to deal with the taller Mustangs of Mendon as nothing gets easier.

The Pittsfield Saukees have been part of the buzz of the 30th annual Lady Tiger this year.  They are much improved and playing with a great deal of intensity and passion.  That says a lot for their excitable head coach Jeff Shireman.  He has gotten the Saukee players to buy into his program and they put a scare into the #1 seed Havana tonight.  The final score was 62-54 in favor of the Ducks but it was a 4 point game late and Pittsfield had a chance. O'Brien (19), Klatt (12) and Chamberlain (11) led the attack.  Heavner played well in the paint until she fouled out late in the game. Pittsfield hit 21 of 52 from the field and 9 of 18 from the free throw line with 19 turnovers.  Havana got challenged in the game but stood their ground and came out with a 15-0 record on the season.  The came in #1 and will stay #1 until someone can step up and knock them off.  Ellsworth (17), Friedrich (14) and Kachanuk (12) were strong with their slashing, outside shooting and power in the paint combination.  They also took care of the ball with only 13 turnovers as they hit 23 of 57 shots and the only downside was the 6 for 23 effort from the foul line. They will have to step that part of their game up when they take on Routt in the semi-final round.  Routt nearly beat the Ducks last year in the Illini Central Sectional and would love nothing more than to get it done on Wednesday.  This, like the Macomb and Illini Bluffs game, will be great stuff for the semi's.  These are 4 teams very capable of taking home the big prize.  No matter who wins or loses, the last 2 days of the Lady Tiger will be filled with great games. 

White Hall North Greene had a hard time breaking the press of Routt Catholic on Friday night and the problems continued into their game with Pleasant Plains today.  They had 17 points and lost to Routt and could only muster 15 points today in their loss to the Cardinals.  Emily Elliott was the leading scorer with 6 points as the Spartans hit 21% from the field and 5 of 8 from the line.  They also had 18 turnovers in the loss.  Plains had 10 players in the scoring column as they spread the ball around well in the win.  The Cardinals hit 16 of 46 from the field and 3 of 5 free throws.  The most impressive part of the win was the small number of turnovers as they only had 1 in the first half and 5 in the second half.  Hannah Hergenrother led the way with 7 points in this nice team win.  The win earned Plains the right to take on Havana at 7:30 in round 2.

Illini West came into the tournament as the #4 seed with a losing record due to their early schedule of playing 3A and 4A schools. Their speed was too much for Brown County as they won 51-13 while shutting out the Hornets in the 3rd and 4th quarters.  Lauren Gronewold had 18 points to lead the way as 8 players scored in the win.  They hit 44% from the field and 47% from the line with 18 total turnovers.  They pretty much dictated the speed of the game from the very beginning and did a nice job of denying the talented Vaness Markert the ball in the paint.  Markert led the Hornets with 5 points but Brown County had 41 turnovers in the loss.  Brown County only had 19% shooting from the field and 2 of 6 free throws so, not a lot went right for the Hornets in this game.  

Mendon Unity only had 1 loss on the season but, they got off to a slow start in their game verses Lewistown.  Once they warmed up, they went on to win 55-40 and will face Macomb tomorrow at 4:30.  Rush scored 14, Begeman 13 and Moore 12.  Churchill added 6 while Bowles and Donley added 4 each.  Hitting 34% from the field and 62% of their free throws, the Mustangs took care of the ball with only 16 turnovers.  They are a pretty good looking ball club and will be very competitive tomorrow.  Monn hit 14 points while LeGrande scored 8 and Eberle 7 as the Indians fell to 7-8 on the season.  The shot 40% in field goals and 42% from the line with 23 turnovers.  Lewistown as a little inconsistent in their loss but will win a lot of games before the regular season ends.  They have decent height and some talented young players on their roster. 

Illini Bluffs had to wait until 6:00 today to get into action in the LTC but it paid off with a 70-61 win over a pesky Farmington team.  The Farmers hit 46% of their shots and 9 for 11 from the free throw line as they hung around until the end.  They had 24 turnovers, which hurt them in the end, but they are a pretty good 8 and 13 team.  Putrich had 15 points and Danley 12 as 7 of the Farmers scored and made a solid run at upsetting the Tigers. As for Illini Bluffs, they had 4 players in double digits.  Kenzie Wall had 21 points, McClintock 18, Hannah Wall 14 and Russell 12 as Illini Bluffs hit 45% of their shots.  They also knocked down 15 of 25 free throws with only 13 turnovers in the win.  The Tigers will face the West Central Cougars at 6:00 tomorrow and that will be an interesting game.

In the final game of the evening, the #1 seed Havana Ducks tot off to a quick start and led all quarters to post the 47-25 win over Pleasant Plains.  They were a little too quick and aggressive for the Cardinals as they stayed undefeated with their 14-0 mark. Kachanuk scored 11 points and Friedrich 10 while Ellsworth added 9.  Seven of the Ducks scored with 36% shooting and 40% in free throws.  They forced 22 turnovers while committing 14 of their own.  The Cardinals could only manage 24% shooting and 50% free throws (1 for 2) in they loss.  Yakel and Forsythe scored 8 each as this Young Cardinal squad looks like they have a good thing going.  Havana will face a Pittsfield team who looks pretty good at times and may cause them a few problems.  It is time for some very entertaining and competitive basketball as we head into round two.       

In a very tight basketball, the WHNG boys defeated Routt 51-48 as they led quarters 1, 2 & 4.  Davis led the Spartans with 18 points, as Wear added 15.  Knox added 8 in the win as White Hall North Greene hit 18 of 41 field goal attempts and 12 of 15 from the free throw line.  They also had 18 turnovers in the win. For the Rockets, they also shot 44% from the field but only had 4 free throws and made 2 of them.  They had 18 turnovers also as this was a very close game.  The Rockets had 2 shots to tie the game but came up empty.  Lindsey had 3 long range treys and 1 average 3 point shot to lead the Rockets with 15 points.  Young had 12 before fouling out and Long had a good night with 11 points. It was a fun and exciting ball game between two evenly matched teams.  The Spartans had 12 fouls in the game and the Rockets 18 so there was a 15 to 4 advantage for White Hall North Greene in the win. If they meet again before this season is over, it will be another very tight battle.  There isn't much difference in these two teams.    

In the final game of the night, the Routt Rockets had a hard time getting into the flow of their offense and lost 35-27 to Athens. The Rockets could only muster five 2 point buckets in 4 quarters. They hit 17 of 26 free throws and that helped them stay in the game. Young led the way with 9 points as Routt hit 5 of 33 shots in the loss.  Routt had 21 turnovers in the game as the Warriors defense played well for all four quarters.  Athens had 8 players in the scoring column and hit 12 of 31 from the field and 11 of 23 from the charity stripe.  They had 8 turnovers in the first half and 12 in the second half as they did just enough to hang on for the win. Athens improved to 4-5 on the year and they led all four quarters and are hoping to get more consistent in their play.  

In the second game, the Cougars of West Central put it in cruise control early and knocked off Raymond Lincolnwood 67-23. Snyder had 13 for the Lancers but, the rest of the team didn't score so well as Raymond Lincolnwood fell to 0-4 in the tournament.  The Cougars forced 25 turnovers in the their win as they had 3 players (Jordan Boehs 21, Day 17 and Barnett 11) in the win.  West Central had 7 players in the scoring column once again as they will come after you with a variety of scorers, a good defense and very few turnovers.  They will try to take care of New Berlin at 7:00 on Saturday night and take home the title.    

New Berlin wanted to win their game tonight with Rushville-Industry to give themselves a shot at the Turkey Tournament title against West Central.  They got it done as they defeated the Rockets 42-30 and did a very good job of holding down Austin Jones.  Jones worked very hard for his 8 points and Plumer (6) along with Plater (5) tried to help pick up the pace.  Hamlin also added 6 points but the Rockets came up short in the end.  Kemp had 14 points in the first half while Gustafson and Lehman added 8 points each in the win.  Burger did what he needed with 7 points also but the Pretzels will have to shoot better (39%) from the field and (50%) from the free throw line if they want to have a chance against the #1 seed.  With only 2 wins last year, New Berlin has to fill good about their start to this season. 

Springfield Lutheran faced the #1 seed, West Central, in the second game tonight got beat 51-23.  It was going to be a tough enough game the way it was but, when Kruger hurt his knee early in the game, it became even tougher.  Hankinson hit 9 points and Haake scored 8 but it wasn't nearly enough to fight off the smooth working Cougars.  Kirby knocked down 6 points for the Crusaders also but, with only 3 players scoring in the game, they were never really in the contest. Seven of the Cougars scored as they spread the ball around with Jordan Boehs leading the way with 14. Day hit double figures with 10 and Lomelino added 9.  West Central shot 44% from the field and 36% from the free throw line and finished with 9 turnovers in the win.  They are only giving up 20 points a game and averaging 53 and that is a hard combination to beat.  They have Raymond-Lincolnwood and New Berlin left on their tournament schedule.

In the final game of the night, the Lancers of Raymond Lincolnwood played 3 good quarters of basketball but the 4th quarter did them in as they lost to New Berlin 65-45.  It was a much better game than the final score indicated but, this is a young Lancer team and they looked like they ran out of steam.  Kraeger and Brockmeier had 14 points each and Snyder 8 in the loss. With only 2 turnovers in the first half, Raymond Lincolnwood led 27-22 at half time.  They turned the ball over 16 times in the second half and that helped sink them. They hit 35% of their shots and 69% of their free throws.  Kemp led the Pretzels once again as he hit 19 points.  Lehman played strong with 13 points as Hodson and Longhta each scored 8 points.  Over all, there were 8 of the New Berlin players in the scoring column.  They were hot last night and didn't cool off much tonight as they hit 51% of their field goals and 71% of their free throws.  They are hoping to defeat Rushville-Industry on Friday and give themselves a shot at the title against West Central on Saturday night. As for the Rockets, they would love to upset the apple cart with a win Friday. It should be a good game and fun to watch.    

West Central won their second game of the tournament as they are averaging 55 and only giving up 19 per game in their wins.  Carlinville had trouble from the beginning and their leading scorer, Stewart, only had 5 points if that will give you an idea as to how hard it is to score on the Cougars.  They shot 19% from the field and 71% from the charity stripe.  West Central still struggled from the free throw line as they hit 5 of 10 free throw line but, they did well with 51% from the field. Jordan Boehs (15) led the 7 Cougars who did score in the game. Corey Barnett added 9 points while Day had 7.  West Central forced 16 turnovers and only made 9 of them in the win.  They will take on the Crusaders of Springfield Lutheran tomorrow evening as they try stay undefeated in the tournament.

The Host Pretzels played very well tonight as they got off to a quick start and maintained it for 4 quarters in their 74-56 win over Lutheran. Eight of the Crusaders scored tonight as Kruger led the way (16) and Kirby (12) as well as Hankinson(10) scored in double figures. Lutheran hit 47% of their shots and 75% from the line.  New Berlin hit 58% from the field and 53% from the line but they hit the boards well in the win.  Kemp (22), Burger (19), Longta (12) and Gustafson (10) led the well balanced attack.  Kemp had 6 treys in the game as they tried to open up the inside game of Burger who came through with some big buckets.  The Pretzels only had 6 turnovers with their starters in the game and 15 over all in the win.  New Berlin would like to win their next two games and get a chance to take on the Cougars in a title tile on Saturday night.  Raymond-Lincolnwood and Rushville Industry may have something to say about whether or not the Pretzels will get their shot.    

In the second game of the night, it was all West Central as they played well on both ends of the floor and crushed the Rushville-Industry Rockets 61-21.  This was simply a matter of the #1 team taking on a team that will need to find their identity under first year head coach, Mark Darr, and also find some offense on the way.  Tonight the Rockets will have a better chance of finding out who they really are as they take on Raymond-Lincolnwood in a little closer match up.  It was hard to determine much about the Rockets as they met up with a team they don't need at this point.  Crane led the team with 7 points as he came in as a bench player.  West Central is a veteran team with a lot of strong inside players and good ball handlers.  Day showed his quickness with 18 points and Corey Barnett added 10 in the win.  Lomelino put in 8 as did VanDeVelde as 8 of the Cougars scored tonight in a well rounded attack.  Their pressure defense forced 26 turnovers on the Rockets.  West Central shot 57% from the field and only 38% from the free throw line (they will work on that) but, were just too strong for the young Rockets tonight.

The final game of the night was an up and down affair for New Berlin and for the Cavaliers of Carlinville.  Carlinville prevailed and won the game 54-45 but not without some struggles of their own. New Berlin jumped out to an 16-9 lead in the first quarter and that was the best news of their night.  The only scored 4 points in the second quarter and 8 in the third and never recovered as Carlinville hit them for 14 and 12 in those same quarts to hold a 35-28 lead after 3 quarters.  The Pretzels had well balanced scoring but, not enough of it.  Gustafson (10), Kemp (9), Burger (9), Lehman (8) and Longhta (7) led the way but there were holds in the defense and the speed of Barry Stewart got to them.  Stewart scored 21 points as a non-starter while Kleeman added 12 and Marchiori 10 in the Carlinville win.  The Pretzels hit 35% from the field and 75% from the free throw line while the Cavaliers tallied 41% from the field and 41% from the line.  Carlinville will get a chance to test their metal against West Central tonight so that will be fun to see how they come out.  

The Routt Lady Rockets opened their volleyball season with a victory (25-12, 25-8) on the road against the Pleasant Hill Lady Wolves.  Thirteen players earned statistical numbers for the Lady Rockets.  Abbey Smith started the season with four straight service points and finished the night with nine total service points, which led the team.  She also had seven assists and one kill.  Emily Bystry finished with eight service points and Nichole Bergschneider had seven service points.  Bergschneider, a senior, played the libero position for Routt and was very effective as the defensive specialist playing the back row.  Rachel White led Routt in assists with eight while Rachel Langdon led the team in kills, earning six of them.  The season opening win was the 290^th victory at Routt for Coach Gibson.  It was the home opener for a young Pleasant Hill team after losing at Triopia on Tuesday.  There are only two seniors on the roster for Coach Clowers’ team which is going to improve with game experience throughout the season.  Shelby Pruett, one of those seniors, led the Lady Wolves with five service points.  Kelsey Whitaker, who missed the first game, was very active on the court helping the Lady Wolves.  The sophomore had three service points and worked a nice back and forth game with junior teammate Samantha Black.  Pleasant Hill will be playing in the Meredosia Volleyball Tournament next week.  Routt won the JV match 25-15, 25-21.  

It was the home opener for the Lady Trojans of Triopia. With 33 girls on the roster Coach Stacey Beeley had a full bench, filled with girls from Virginia and Triopia, who proved they work together extremely well with a win over the Pleasant Hill Lady Wolves 25-18, 25-7. Katie Clayton was the lone senior tonight, leading her team on and off the court. Katie will be a force on the front line for all the opposing teams in this area. She wasn't alone, Erin Washington, Emily Carls and Breanna Lacy put in plenty of kills. Setter Sydney Meyer filled some pretty big shoes replacing Lydia Reither for the Lady Trojans, as a sophomore she will make her name known.  Pleasant Hill played hard and will give teams fits. Samantha Black will keep teams guessing with back sets and dumps just off the 10 foot line. Black has the ability to set left right or middle with little effort. She showed no favorites sending the ball equally to Madison Martin, Shelby Pruett, Kennedy Moore, Lauren Jones or Leah Cathorall   Pleasant Hill's downfall for the night were the service errors. I call it early season jitters, something we won't see down the road.  It was a good start to the 2011 volleyball season

Olivia Dour pitched a no hitter today as Beardstown shut out Peru 12-1 to advance to the title game on Tuesday night as the only unbeaten team.  She walked 5 and struck out 12 batters in the victory.  Peru made 6 errors in the game as Kamryn Olson pitched a pretty good game, walking only 2 and striking out 14.  Beardstown had 11 hits and were led by Blake and Maddie Craig with 2 hits each.  They had 9 of their 12 players with at least 1 hit in the impressive win.  They made 0 errors and left 4 runners on base and deserve to be in the championship game Tuesday.  They will get tomorrow off as they wait to see who their opponent will be.  Whoever wins tomorrow will have to defeat Beardstown twice, so they are in the drivers seat and it will be fun to see how they finish.   

The Beardstown/River Forest game was a roller coaster ride for both teams.  River Forest committed 9 errors in the loss and could only muster 2 hits.  Beardstown walked 17 batters  and made 2 errors, so it was hard to get a read on either of the teams. While River Forest only scored 4 runs, they left 15 runners on base so, they had opportunities.  Nelson had both of the River Forest hits and played a solid game at short stop with a couple of excellent defensive plays.  She may be one of the best 11 year old players I have seen this season. She has a strong arm and hit 2 triples as they both hit the 200 foot fence in 1 bounce.  Fiona Girardot went the distance and suffered the loss as she walked 2 and struck out 6.  She also had 5 wild pitches in the game.  Beardstown collected 13 hits to go with their 11 runs and they left 7 runners on base.  Blake led the way with 3 hits while Hobrock, Olivia Dour and Stock all had 2.  Nine of the 12 Beardstown players had at least 1 hit in the win.  They made 2 errors in the game and, if you could discount the walks, Beardstown played a very nice game.  Coach Stock said his team never walked 17 batters in their entire sectional and district tournaments, so we will see how tomorrow plays out when they face Peru at 4:00 in the semi-final game.

Rushville took an 11-5 win over Pike County as the compiled 5 hits and 3 errors while leaving 7 runners on base.  Curry and Hannah Etter had 2 hits each in the win and Hannah Etter is the winning pitcher.  Rushville used 3 pitchers in the game and they each did a commendable job.  Giving up 3 unearned runs of the 5 wasn't helpful and Rushville will need to play a little bit better defensive game Tuesday as Calhoun will try to run on them.  Pike County had some difficulty with walks last night as they gave up 8 with 1 hit batsman. Hively struck out 9 batters and Pike Co. committed 5 errors in the loss. Pike County could only muster 4 hits in the game also so, will need to hit the ball better against Beardstown in the second round if they want to stay alive for round three.  It will be interesting to watch them play Beardstown to see which teams can get their composure back and move on.