BOYS BASKETBALL
ALTON 66, BELLEVILLE EAST 63: Kevin Caldwell's three-pointer in the final seconds capped a huge rally for Alton as the Redbirds came from behind to defeat Belleville East 66-63 in a Southwestern Conference game in Belleville Tuesday night.
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The Redbirds went to 5-2 overall on the year; the Lancers fell to 5-3.
Caldwell finished with 24 points on the night, with Darrell Smith adding 22 and Dereaun Clay 10. University of Illinois recruit Javon Pickett had 30 points to lead the Lancers, with Jordan Yates scoring 12 and EnRico Sylvester nine.
The Redbirds take on Chicago-area school Addison Trail in the opening round of the 74th Centralia Holiday Tournament at 2 p.m. Dec. 28 at Arthur Trout Gym.
PIASA SOUTHWESTERN 64, BRUSSELS 38: Ben Lowis recorded a 14-point, 10-rebound game for Piasa Southwestern as the Piasa Birds defeated Brussels 64-38 Tuesday night in Brussels.
The Biirds went to 7-3 on the year, while the Raiders fell to 3-7 on the year.
Justin Bailey added 14 points for Southwestern while Collin Baumgartner chipped in 11.
The Birds are off until Dec. 27, when the meet Rock Falls in the opening small-school round of the State Farm Holiday Classic in Bloomington; the game begins at 1 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
BELLEVILLE EAST 57, ALTON 35: Kaylah Rainey had 12 points and Bryce Dowell and Brittney Nitz 11 each as Belleville East defeated Alton 57-35 in a Southwestern Conference game in Alton Tuesday night.
The Redbirds fell to 1-8 on the year, 0-5 in the SWC: the Lancers went to 7-5 overall, 2-4 in the league.
The Lancers scored 22 points off 32 Redbird turnovers. “We make careless turnovers in the games; we don't execute our press break on a consistent basis, and the results are games where we turn the ball over 20 more times, and you can't win when you do that,” Redbird coach Bob Rickman said. “We go over daily the ways to handle pressure, but you need two things – the pressure in practice to go against and trust the system; we are lacking both.
“Defensively, we are not where we need to be; our turnovers continually put us in bad spots and we always have to be in react mode. We have to get better at taking care of the ball and stopping our opponent if we want to be in games at the end.”
Lelani Hill led Alton with 15 points; Deija Carter and Alexia Rodgers had six points each. Jailyn McClenny added 10 points for East.
The Redbirds will meet Columbia Hickman at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 28 in the opening round of the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational at Jefferson City Helias in Jefferson City, Mo.
COLLINSVILLE 49, GRANITE CITY 42: Andrea Freker led with 11 points as Collinsville downed Granite City 49-42 in a Southwestern Conference game at Granite City's Memorial Gym Tuesday night.
The Warriors fell to 2-4 overall, 1-4 in the SWC; the Kahoks went to 6-5 overall, 3-2 in the league.
Donyal Garrett led GCHS with 25 points, with Akila Fultz adding eight and Viktoria Johnson three; Alyssa Grimm had eight points for the Kahoks with Venise Govan and Claire Schuessler adding seven each.
Next up for the Warriors is a game against McCluer in the Duchesne Holiday Tournament in St. Charles, Mo.; the game is set for 2 p.m. Dec. 27.
MVCHA HOCKEY
BETHALTO 4, FREEBURG/WATERLOO 3: A second-period Anthony Russo goal proved to be the difference as Bethalto defeated Freeburg/Waterloo 4-3 in a Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association game at East Alton Ice Arena Tuesday night.
The Eagles went to 9-2-2 (20 points) on the season. The win lifted Bethalto into a tie for first in the overall MVCHA standings with Edwardsville; the league will be split into two divisions, based on record, after games of Jan. 3.
Alex Winter, Nolan Kahl and Joe Watson also had goals for Bethalto. Next up for the Eagles is a 7:15 p.m. Monday game against Triad at EAIA.
COLLINSVILLE 11, GRANITE CITY 3: Riley Brown, Brendan Colvin and Sam Wielgus had goals for Granite City as the Warriors dropped an 11-3 decision to Collinsville at Wilson Park Ice Rink in Granite City Tuesday.
The loss dropped the Warriors to 5-7-1 (11 points) on the year; next up is a 8:40 p.m. Monday game against Belleville at Wilson Park.
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