COLLINSVILLE – Edwardsville made some changes at the half in their IHSA Class 4A Normal Community Sectional semifinal game against Springfield Monday night and the end result was a 67-47 win over the Senators.
“We made a few adjustments at halftime and the kids knocked down shots,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade.
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The Tigers remained undefeated at 29-0 on the year, while the Senators were eliminated at 26-5. Edwardsville will meet Rock Island, 70-31 winners over Bradley-Bourbonnais in Monday's other semifinal at Normal, at 7 p.m. Thursday with a trip to the Bloomington Supersectional at Illinois Wesleyan at stake.
“That was probably the biggest part,” Blade said of the Tigers' runs that helped win the game, “but all the credit in the world to Springfield; what a great first half they had and they played hard. He (Senator coach Brad Schaeffer) does a great job with the program; they always are very competitive and they never quit.
“You can get them down and they'll battle back, a lot like our kids will, so I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he does.”
It wasn't the easiest of starts for Edwardsville; they led just 10-7 at quarter time and 23-16 at the half before pulling away in the second half. “Our kids battled the first half; it was ugly, very chaotic,” Blade said. “The third quarter, we settled in a lot better and actually got some shots we wanted and the kids knocked them down.”
The Tiger defensive effort kept EHS ahead when it seemed the Sens were wanting to make a run at the Tigers; Blade credited Christe'on Waters, Rachel Pranger, and Myriah Noodel-Hayward for their efforts. “Chris, Rachel and Myriah really did a good job on their posts, especially the first half,” Blade said. “I know we blocked some shots, but our positioning was pretty good.
“They're a handful inside; (Montshianna Pulliam) is a ton. Those three kids really played well defensively on the inside.”
Edwardsville shut down Pulliam and Raina Gully in the first half, and Schaeffer felt that hurt his team. “Montshianna didn't score the first half and Raina had only two, and those our two big scorers,” Schaeffer said. “We were down only seven (at halftime); I felt pretty good, If we come out the second half, get them established and get them going. We weren't able to do that; we weren't able to stop them in the third quarter, we gave them too many good open looks and too many breakaway layups.”
Kate Martin led the Tigers with 18 points, with Makenzie Silvey adding 14, Pranger 12, Waters nine, Noodel-Hayward eight and Quierra Love six; the Senators were led by Ashley Robinson's 12 points, with Pulliam and Nicole Sweiah each scoring nine.
Now it's Rock Island Thursday night; the Tigers eliminated the Rocks from last year's tournament in the sectional final. “They're good,” Blade said. “It should be a great game; it'll be two teams who'll go at it and battle.”
“We saw (Rock Island) at Christmas,” Schaeffer said. “We didn't play them, but they have a lot of athletes and so does Edwardsville. It'll be 10 good athletes on the floor at a good time, and I told the girls afterwards whoever wins that game has a good chance of winning the whole thing. It's too bad it's in the sectional final; it'll be a great game to watch on Thursday.”
