New-look Coal City pulls away from new-look Peotone 61-40

PEOTONE – The Coal City and Peotone girls basketball teams finished last season atop the Illinois Central Eight Conference standings but are looking to reload in 2024.

The Blue Devils hosted Coal City on Thursday still in search of their first win of the season. The Coalers, meanwhile, were looking to bounce back from their second loss. Despite some pushes from Peotone, it was Coal City that came out on top 61-40 to improve to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in ICE play. Peotone dropped to 0-6 (0-2).

Coal City held an 18-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Blue Devils snapped off a quick 9-0 run to open the second quarter that cut the deficit to just one point. The Coalers responded by closing out the second quarter on a 14-2 run and carrying a 32-19 lead into halftime.

Peotone scored the first seven points of the third quarter to get back within six points but got no closer.

Coal City coach Brad Schmidt said that, although it was not necessarily the cleanest game, he was pleased with the effort that led to the victory.

“We had some silly fouls early, but our girls are playing hard, and that’s what our goal is,” he said. “We’re a score-by-committee team, and everybody has to do a little bit for us to be successful. I think tonight everybody pitched in, did their job on both ends of the floor, and we were able to secure a win.”

Seven players scored for the Coalers, three scoring in double figures. Senior Emma Rodriguez was dominant in the paint, leading the team with 19 points – 13 of which came in the second half. Senior point guard Kylee Kennell had the hot hand early, scoring nine of her 17 points in the first quarter. Junior Sydney Larson chipped in 10 points.

While the Blue Devils were not always able to get what they wanted, there were still some times, particularly to open the second and third quarters, where things came together. First-year Peotone coach Shawn Bean said his team was able to ramp up the defensive intensity during those stretches, which generated some offensive success, but was just unable to sustain it.

“We had a couple of big charges, we were taking away the drive, and as soon as we opened it up and they were able to get past us, they were able to slice through, it killed our defense,” he said. “When we were able to take that away from them and get in the passing lanes, we could get a couple of quick steals, we had a couple of nice breakaway layups. We’re starting to see the floor.”

Things will take a bit more time to come together for Peotone. Last season’s entire starting five, and then some, are gone. With basically the entire roster playing varsity basketball for the first time, Bean said the adjustments to this level will keep coming with time.

“This is the first time most of these kids have gotten any varsity minutes, and we’re still reacting rather than making the plays now,” he said. “But we’re showing progress. We’re putting together a quarter here, putting together a quarter there, but we’re having trouble putting four quarters together right now.”

Junior Payton Bisping led Peotone with 11 points, eight coming in the second half. Mallory Schroeder and Allie Walsh both had nine points, with all of Schroeder’s points in the first half and all of Walsh’s in the second half.

Coal City’s experienced senior duo of Rodriguez and Kennell finished first and second on the team with 19 points and 17 points, respectively. Larson added 10 points. For Peotone, Bisping got hot in the second half to finish with a team-high 11 points. Schroeder and Walsh both finished with nine points for the Blue Devils.

Both teams will be in action at 6:45 p.m. Monday, with Coal City visiting Streator and Peotone hosting Lisle.