SECTION Enquirer~Democrat Have a sports story? E-mail them to B [email protected] THURSDAY JANUARY 30, 2020 SPORTS enquirerdemocrat.com CHS girls defend county title in overtime classic By JACKSON WILSON love having her on my team.” our gameplan and hoping that we can ures, with Rylee Smith adding nine tal- Enquirer Democrat Reporter The Piasa Birds, who fell to 14-7, make enough baskets. That’s been our lies for SWHS. got a 12-point performance from Kor- strategy all year and it’s been working Defensively, Southwestern limited The Carlinville High School girls’ rie Hopkins and nine points from Josie so far.” Bunker Hill to one field goal for the varsity basketball team needed four Bouillon. Reels was joined by Hopkins, Smith, entire game. extra minutes to put the nail in South- After both teams traded four leads Bouillon, Hollie Bekeske (Staunton- Staunton-Mt. Olive 38, North Mac western’s coffin during the Macoupin and four lead changes over the course Mt. Olive) and MacKenzy Mix (Gil- 34 County Tournament championship at of a 17-17 first half, Southwestern lespie) on the All-Tournament team. No. 5 North Mac made a valiant ef- Staunton High School Jan. 25. seemed to be taking control with a 28- Third Place - Staunton-Mt. Olive 45, fort in snapping a seven-game losing With a 43-37 overtime triumph, 24 advantage when Addie Green con- Gillespie 39 streak, but couldn’t quite overcome a the Cavaliers tied their win total from nected on a 3-pointer from the top of The Bulldogs forced 15 Miner turn- 14-2 first quarter deficit. last season and repeated as Macoupin the key with just under two minutes to overs and built a 23-15 halftime lead en Staunton-Mt. Olive was outscored County victors. play in the third. Stewart failed to an- route to a 45-39 home victory for third in each of the last three quarters, but Carlinville, now 20-3 overall, has swer from deep, giving the Piasa Birds place. SHS led by as many as 16 points held on for a 38-34 victory behind a won 16 of its last 17 games. The lone a chance to increase their advantage. in the middle of the third quarter. 16-point effort from Legendre. defeat came against Southwestern, 27- Southwestern turned the ball over and In triumph, Staunton-Mt. Olive’s The Bulldogs led for the entire game, 21, at Piasa Jan. 9. was hit with a technical foul on defense Bekeske scored 12 points and was maintaining a 20-10 halftime advan- “The feeling of satisfaction you get with 30 seconds remaining. DeNeve joined by teammates Abby Davis and tage and a 28-23 edge heading into the after a job well done while working to- made both free throws, which triggered Haris Legendre in double figures. Da- fourth. gether is what high school athletics are a 9-0 run that put Carlinville out to its vis and Legendre had 11 points apiece. Katie Masinelli added nine tallies all about,” said Carlinville head coach biggest lead, 33-28, three-and-a-half Mix led Gillespie with nine points and Bekeske knocked down a pair of Darrin DeNeve. “Moments like this are minutes into the fourth quarter. and Shelby Taylor added seven tallies. threes in the first quarter as part of an very nice to have.” “It is what it is,” said Wooley. “I The Bulldogs improved to 11-11 and eight-point performance for SHS. “This was very entertaining for the didn’t exactly see the entire play live, dropped the Miners to 12-9. Gist (10 points) and Meador (nine fans but obviously a little frustrating but we have to respect the officials’ Fifth Place - North Mac 46, Bunker points) were the scoring leaders for the for us because we couldn’t get it done,” calls and learn to live with that.” Hill 36 Panthers, who managed to get within said Southwestern head coach Steve Southwestern got a pair of clutch The Panthers ended the fifth place three points (24-21) with roughly two Wooley. “But, I’m still very proud of triples from Rylee Smith and Morgan game on a 20-11 run and knocked off minutes remaining in the third quarter. how we continued to fight and give Durham to even the score at 35-35. the Minutemaids 46-36 to get to 5-19 Day 2 - Jan. 22 ourselves a chance to play in overtime.” Smith connected after Eryn Seal missed on the year. Carlinville 45, Staunton-Mt. Olive 29 Jill Stayton led the Cavaliers with a ‘one-and-one’ to make it 33-32 at the Melanie Gist put up 13 points for The top-seeded Cavaliers took a 9-4 12 points. Corin Stewart hit a trio of 2:08 mark, then Durham responded to North Mac. Alli Kallenbach scored lead into the second quarter, then ex- 3-pointers and added 11 points. Carlin- a Stayton insurance layup by banking nine. Brooke Meador (eight points) and tended their advantage to 22-11 at half- ville also got a spark from Gracie Reels, in the equalizing triple with 1:20 to go Mallory Buhl (seven points) joined the time and 38-14 heading into the fourth. who scored five of her seven points in in regulation. offensive party for the Panthers as well. Reels (13 points), Seal (10 points) the extra session. Reels was only shoot- Carlinville worked the clock down Julianna Scroggins (10 points), Tay- and Stewart (nine points) led the charge Macoupin County All-Tournament team member Gracie Reels drib- ing 1-for-7 from the field at the end of and got Durham to foul Stewart with tem Brooks (eight points) and Bry- for CHS. bles her way past Southwestern’s Rylee Smith during the county regulation, but broke out of that funk 20 seconds. The CHS senior missed the lie Chrisman (seven points) were the Davis chalked up nine points for championship at Staunton High School Jan. 25. Reels scored seven with a clutch offensive rebound plus an ‘one-and-one’ free throw, so the Cava- leading scorers for Bunker Hill, which Staunton-Mt. Olive. Emilee Birdsell points, including five in overtime to help CHS clinch back-to-back ti- and-one to snap a 35-35 tie with 2:52 liers had to leave it up to their greatest dropped to 1-19. had six points and Masinelli scored tles. Smith was selected to the All-Tournament team as well. Enquirer remaining in overtime. weapon to stay alive. The Carlinville Day 1 - Jan. 20 five. Democrat photo by Denise Simpson. Reels’ efforts resulted in her being defense prevented the Piasa Birds from Southwestern 53, Bunker Hill 6 Southwestern 49, Gillespie 24 Addie Green in the closing minute of raled out of control for the Miners. The named to the All-Tournament team for getting the potential game-winning The Piasa Birds took flight from the Five consecutive missed shots, four the half helped the Piasa Birds take Piasa Birds dominated GHS 17-4 in the the second year in a row. shot in the air and initiated overtime. opening tip, outscoring the No. 6 Min- turnovers and a 6-0 deficit in the first control of the game for good, 24-14, third and came into the final eight min- “Playing solid was critical at that CHS carried that momentum into the utemaids 19-3 in the first quarter. three-and-a-half minutes indicated the prior to the intermission. utes flying high with a 41-18 cushion. point, but we knew that someone was extra session and outscored Southwest- Southwestern took a 39-5 lead into type of night that the No. 2 Miners were Fresh out of the locker room, Bouil- Hopkins scored 16 points for South- going to have to step up and make a big ern 8-2 to seal the win. halftime and forced a running clock going to have. lon connected on another long-distance western and was backed by 13 points play,” said DeNeve. “Gracie went right “We’d been saying all week that the in the final eight minutes with a 50-6 Gillespie was within striking dis- shot and Hopkins ignited for six tallies from Bouillon. to work on the first opportunity that she first word of the phrase ‘Defend the cushion. tance being down only four points late in the midst of a 10-2 push that dropped Mix led all Gillespie scorers with got and that’s why she is such a tremen- Title’, was ‘defend’,” said DeNeve. Hopkins (12 points) and Bouillon in the second quarter, but a pair of back- Gillespie into a 34-16 hole with six eight points and Sydney Bires added dous athlete and a great competitor. I “It’s a matter of executing that part of (10 points) each landed in double fig- breaking 3-pointers from Bouillon and minutes left to play in a quarter that spi- six tallies. THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020 Macoupin County Enquirer~Democrat 1B Sports North Mac boys three-peat as county champions By JACKSON WILSON Wilson took advantage of an offensive Miner tallies. and drew contact, but no foul was called. Enquirer Democrat Reporter rebound and broke a 17-17 tie with a three Coy Sellers and Grant Burch put up eight Watson put Southwestern back on top at the one-minute mark, sending North Mac points apiece for the Minutemen. with a three at the 2:45 mark of overtime. The North Mac varsity boys’ basketball into the locker room with a 20-17 edge.