COLLINSVILLE – Edwardsville got out of the gates quickly in their Southwestern Conference game at Collinsville’s Fletcher Gym Tuesday night.
The Tigers had taken a 10-0 lead on the Kahoks before the fans could get settled into their seats, then EHS built the lead to 24-14 at quarter time before holding Collinsville to a point in the second quarter en route to a 73-28 win to remain undefeated on the year.
Edwardsville improved to 17-0 overall, 7-0 in the league heading into a Friday night game at Alton; Collinsville fell to 6-7 overall, 3-4 in the SWC.
“I thought this was one of our better defensive efforts, and that’s been a focus after last week and getting outplayed in the second half,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade. “That’s been something we’ve been working on in practice and it actually carried over into the game tonight, which was great to see.
“I thought that they were very unselfish tonight and played a very well-rounded game; I was just proud of their effort overall.”
Edwardsville got off to a very fast start, getting seven points from Rachel Pranger and three from Makenzie Silvey in the first two-and-a-half minutes to put the Tigers ahead 10-0. “We had a really good start the first couple of minutes,” Blade said. “She (Silvey) got caught in a poor position a couple of times and took herself out of the game with that (drawing a pair of fouls in the opening moments); the other kids responded to that really well.
“We moved the ball well against their zone and actually didn’t force very many shots. We were really patient and took good shots on each possession.”
The Tiger rebounding was also a highlight of the win; Criste’on Waters led EHS with 11 rebounds on the night. “I can’t say we boxed out very well, but we did rebound very well,” Blade said, “so that’s something we’ve still got to take a look at. The kids off the bench gave us good minutes; we did some really good things tonight.”
Pranger led the Tigers with 21 points, with Silvey adding 15, Kate Martin 11 and Waters scoring eight; both Pranger and Martin had seven rebounds each. The Kahoks were led by Antoinette Buehne’s 10 points, with Kaitlyn Fischer adding seven; Fischer and Clare Schuessler had three rebounds each.
The Kahok JV won the curtain-raiser over the Tiger JV 65-62 in overtime.
The girls-boys basketball double header scheduled for Friday evening at Alton High School has been rearranged due to impending weather. The freshman and junior varsity girls’ basketball games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at Alton High. Varsity will tip off at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
