EDWARDSVILLE – One of the best features of any successful team – regardless of sport – is the ability to adapt to unexpected changes thrown their way.
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Edwardsville's girls basketball team had to do just that Monday after the weekend's heavy rains caused the roof at Lucco-Jackson Gym at Edwardsville High to spring a leak, forcing all but two games of the seventh Edwardsville Girls Basketball Classic tournament to be shifted to Liberty Middle School (today's scheduled games will be played at Lucco-Jackson Gym as scheduled).
Undaunted, the Tigers turned in a pair of impressive victories, defeating traditional small-school power Teutopolis 68-37 Monday evening after knocking off DeKalb 72-30 in their tournament opener earlier in the day.
“We practice over here some,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade on the sudden change of venue, “so it's not like a new facility to us; some of the kids went school here, so it's like a home away from home.”
The Tigers came out pretty strong against the Wooden Shoes; sophomore Kate Martin had a particularly hot hand in the first half and the Tigers kept going to her, finishing with 22 points on the night. “I thought Kate had a really good game,” Blade said. “She stood out, hit a couple of threes early; she had some blocked shots, she was aggressive going to the basket and looking to score, which is good to see, and finishing.”
Martin wasn't the only Tiger who came out on fire; Makenzie Silvey also had a good game against the Shoes, leading all scorers with 23 points. Overall, though, Blade was pleased with the team's performance.
“I thought our transition was real good, especially early,” Blade said. “We rebounded well, which led to that; we didn't give up a whole lot defensively with their penetration, which was big. Overall, I thought they really put together a good 32 minutes.”
Rachel Pranger had 13 points for Edwardsville (10-1) in the win.
Against the Barbs, the Tigers jumped out to a 9-0 lead early on and were never seriously threatened, getting to a 25-12 lead at quarter time and extending it to 44-21 at the long change.
Silvey and Martin each led with 19 points, with Pranger adding 11 and Criste'on Waters 10.
Edwardsville finishes group play at 1 p.m. Tuesday when the meet up with Jacksonville. The championship game, which pits the top teams in Group A and B against each other, is set for 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.
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