Coal City pulls away in 2nd quarter, picks up road ICE win over Herscher

HERSCHER — The Coal City girls basketball team came into Herscher on Thursday looking to avoid a third-straight. Herscher, fresh off a first-place finish at the Iroquois West Holiday Hoops tournament, was looking to improve to 5-0 in Illinois Central Eight Conference play.

It was the Coalers that came out on top, turning an 8-5 first quarter lead into a 20-7 advantage at halftime before keeping the Tigers at arm’s length throughout the second half, eventually winning 35-24. Coal City went to 7-4 overall this season and 4-1 in ICE play. Herscher dropped to 10-5 (4-1).

Coal City head coach Brad Schmitt said he was happy with the team’s defensive effort from the start on Thursday, which helped set the tone with the offense struggling to remain consistent.

“We knew that we hadn’t been playing really well the last two games, three games maybe, so we wanted to come out and make sure we put the defensive pressure when we wanted to,” he said. “We did that tonight.”

“Offensively we’re still kind of fighting through some things, but we made some good decisions in the second and third quarter, got some good looks, built a lead and closed it out.”

Herscher’s slow start on Thursday put the Tigers in a hole they could not dig out of, although the second half went a little more smoothly than the first.

The loss wrapped a week in which the Tigers played six games across seven days, four of which came in tournament play. They found success during that stretch, going 4-2 overall. Head coach Tim McElroy said he was happy to see the team continue to play hard at the end of a busy week.

“I’m super proud of who the girls are and I’m really proud that we won the second half 17-15 after being down big early,” he said. I’m proud of the fight after a long week, after winning the tournament yesterday at Iroquois West.”

When it came to the game on Thursday, McElroy added that he did not think the stretch of six games in seven days contributed to the loss too much.

“I don’t really think so, that that had anything to do with it,” he said. “I just think that Coal City is a really good team. They were the better team tonight.”

The Tigers had several players get banged up at times throughout the game, including starting point guard RyLyn Adams and starting center Anistin Hackley, which McElroy said obviously played a major factor.

Both battled throughout the game, but still needed spells on the bench. Adams ended up leading the team with 10 points, eight of which came in the second half. Junior Pippa Dunnill contributed six points, four of which came in the fourth quarter.

Coal City senior Emma Rodriguez was the most consistent player on the floor Thursday, scoring four points in the first quarter, three in the second, four in the third and four more in the fourth to finish with a game-high 15 points. She also added 11 rebounds. Senior Kylee Kennell went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line to finish with eight points and eight rebounds.

Herscher now gets a bit of a reprieve after its busy stretch. The next game on the schedule is January 8, when the Tigers will host Watseka. McElroy said the team will take some of the time to shore up some things to make sure they keep playing at a high level.

“I’m excited to keep getting better,” he said. “Taking care of the basketball on offense and really good team defense are key.”

Coal City now has a week off before beginning play in the Lisle Holiday Classic on December 26. Once the tournament wraps up, the Coalers will have only played one game at home out of their first 15, but will host seven straight in January.

“We’re going to see a lot of different styles of play from what we saw in the first half of our season so far,” he said. “As far as the second half goes, we get to be at home in January. We’ve been on the road nonstop for this first half of the year, so it’ll be nice not to have many road games in January.”

STAT BOOK

Coal City was led by Rodriguez with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Kennell contributed with eight points and eight rebounds of her own. For Herscher scored 10 points and Dunnill added six points.

https://daily-journal.com/sports/girls-basketball-coal-city-pulls-away-in-2nd-quarter-picks-up-road-ice-win-over/article_297f2978-be92-11ef-b3f9-efa821c7cfd6.html