BETHALTO - In what Civic Memorial High School head coach Jonathan Denney describes as “the second round of a four round heavyweight championship,” the Eagles earned their 11th straight win for the season against the Highland Bulldogs Tuesday night. The final score for the night was 58-53.
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“I really think this is a second round of a four round heavyweight championship,” Denney said, referencing CM's first battle with Highland earlier in the season at the Salem Tournament where the Eagles won 57-45.
“They [Highland] really out toughed us in the first half. They dominated the boards. They seemed to be a bit tougher. They were a bit hungrier in the first half," he said. "We made the adjustments at half time and really did a nice job keeping them off the boards and did a good job at out toughing them in the second half.”
Describing the series of games as a boxing match, instead of high school basketball games, is oddly fitting for this matchup. Not only was this particular game more physical than the two teams have may have had this season, but the intensity of this game was simply off the charts. Each point scored, for either team, held the weight of a punch.
“I’m really proud of these girls,” Denney said. “We haven’t had many games like this year so it’s nice to see how they respond in a tight game.”
Allie Troeckler led the Eagles in scoring with 25 points. Kaylee Eaton brought in 15 points. Anna Hall scored 7 while Alaira Tyus landed five points. Kourtland Tyus scored four points while Annika Ochs came off the bench to score one two-point basket in the third quarter.
“Eaton and Tyus had a couple of big threes to give us a little cushion there,” he said. “The third quarter was great. Just the way we played defensively and how we got after it. It made our offense a bit smoother and made us click a little bit. Allie, of course, made some big time plays down the stretch.”
For the Bulldogs, Madison Wellen led the pack with 17 points. Alex LaPorta scored 12 points over four quarters of play. Hayley Taylor, Rece Portell and Emmy Nyquist each brought in seven, six and five points respectively. Abby Melosi and Ellie Brown scored three points each.
Civic Memorial extends its record to 11-0 for the season while Highland’s record falls to 8-3, losing to Belleville East and to the Eagles in November in Salem. “Round three” of the proclaimed “heavyweight championship” Denney mentioned will occur on Jan. 7 in Highland.
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