COLLINSVILLE – Junior forward Sydney Harris led the way with 25 points, while juniors Elle Evans and Macy Silvey had 10 points each as Edwardsville jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in defeating Collinsville 71-29 in a Southwestern Conference girls basketball game played Saturday afternoon at Vergil Fletcher Gym.
The Tigers led wire-to-wire, holding leads of 14-6 at the end of the first quarter, 37-16 at halftime and 58-22 at three quarter time, forcing a fourth quarter running clock. Edwardsville outscored the Kahoks in the fourth quarter 13-7 to gain the win.
Besides Harris, Evans and Silvey, Emerson Weller had nine points for the Tigers, while Katelynne Roberts scored six points, Kaitlyn Morningstar had five points and Ariana Bennett, Ashlyn Hauk and Olivia Koinsberg all had two points.
The Kahoks were led by Ella Guerrero’s nine points, with Megan Janson adding five points, Lucy Montgomery and Jenna Scheller both scoring four points, Ricki Merlak had three points and both Astacia Bush and Orianna Givens both scored two points apiece.
Edwardsville is now 12-1 on the season, and remains tied for first place in the league with O’Fallon, who defeated East St. Louis 76-54 on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers play at Alton in the regular season finale on Tuesday night, and have clinched at least the number two seed in next week’s Southwestern Conference postseason tournament, with O’Fallon owning a tiebreak of least points allowed in conference games. If the Tigers gain the top seed, they’ll have a bye into the semifinals, and if Edwardsville in the number two seed, they will host the first quarterfinal game Thursday night against the number seven seed.
The semifinals are set for Friday night, and the final will be played Saturday, with all games being played at the highest-seeded team.
