EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville ran out to a 24-8 quarter-time lead, then got the lead to 37-21 at the half but had to hang on to take a 62-52 Southwestern Conference win over O'Fallon Thursday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.
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"We'll take the win. These two weeks, we have to dig in and grind it out at this point," EHS head coach Lori Blade said. "They're a good team. They have some big wins and Ryan [Massey] did a good job. Their [O'Fallon's] defense caused us to shoot poorly at times and we're better than that. We have to mentally toughen up to be able to battle against teams like that."
The win put the Tigers at 15-0 overall, 8-0 in the SWC; the Panthers fell to 9-5 overall, 4-2 in the league.
"I am pleased with how my kids battled," Panther head coach Ryan Massey said, "[Edwardsville] is the number three team in the state of Illinois. It's no secret how good they are.
"We gave up too many transition baskets. It helped that we made some shots, but our girls just played and competed and that's what I'm proud of," Massey said.
Rachel Pranger and Makenzie Silvey each led EHS with 16 points, with Kate Martin adding 11 and Myriah Noodel-Hayward 10. OTHS' Marta Durk led all scorers with 19 points while Caitlyn Kayser had 14 for the Panthers.
Edwardsville meets Hazelwood Central at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the St. Joseph's Shootout in St. Louis County before heading to Collinsville for a 7:30 p.m. Tuesday game and to Alton for a 6 p.m. Jan. 13 game.
Madelaine Gerard also contributed to this story.
