The Collinsville High School girls basketball team snapped a six-game losing skid Thursday, beating Alton 50-47 in a Southwestern Conference contest.
Carlee Mahan shoots a 3-pointer against Alton / Photo by Roger Starkey
The Kahoks rode the strong play of three post players to the victory. Collinsville (1-3 SWC, 3-6) worked the ball into the low post against Alton’s zone defense throughout the night, consistently getting short-range shots.
Sophomore forwards Gabby Morgan and Kassidy Smith finished with 11 points each. Junior forward Samantha Buettner contributed nine. Head Coach Lori Billy said the team emphasized the high-low pass in practice this week.
“We had discussed the fact that we really wanted to get the ball inside, into the low block and into our post players,” Billy said. “And I thought all of our post players responded really, really well.”
The forwards helped propel Collinsville to a 47-40 lead with 3 minutes 50 seconds remaining. However, a slew of fourth quarter turnovers nearly cost the Lady Kahoks a fourth quarter lead for the second straight game.
Collinsville held a six-point fourth quarter advantage against Althoff Monday night, before turnovers cost them the game. The team bent, but did not break Thursday.
The Lady Redbirds (1-4 SWC, 3-5) cut the lead to 47-45 when sophomore guard Lajarvia Brown hit a bucket following one of Collinsville’s eight fourth quarter turnovers. Junior guard Aubreeney Brady made one of two free throws on the next possession to break Alton’s momentum. Brady led Collinsville with 13 points. Brown led all scorers with 16.
Collinsville’s next two possessions resulted in turnovers. The second one, a steal and layup by Alton freshman guard Jasmine Bishop, cut the lead to one with 52 seconds remaining. Bishop scored 14 points in the game.
The ensuing inbound pass went through the hands of Morgan, and suddenly the Lady Redbirds had a chance to take the lead. They promptly turned the ball over. Alton also committed eight fourth-quarter turnovers. Collinsville had 26 turnovers on the night to Alton’s 19.
Brady knocked down her sixth and seventh free throws with 27.1 remaining to push the Collinsville lead to 50-47. Alton then turned the ball over with 2.3 seconds remaining, without attempting a shot, on the ensuing possession.
However, they still had a chance for the tying bucket when Brady was tied up with .6 second remaining and a jump ball was called. The possession arrow favored Alton, but the Lady Redbirds again failed to get a shot off.
The game was marked by scoring runs for both teams. After not finding the bottom of the net for the first 3.5 minutes of the game, Collinsville went on an 11-4 run to end the first quarter with an 11-8 lead.
Alton answered with an 18-4 run to start the second quarter. During the run, Collinsville continued to work the ball into the low post and get open looks at the basket, but their shots could not find the mark.
“We get a quarter (every game) where we just can’t put the ball in the hole,” Billy said. “We’re trying, and we’re getting some pretty good shots out of it, and we’re patient, but we just couldn’t get it to drop.”
When the points came for CHS, they did so in a flurry. The Lady Kahoks closed the first half with six points in the final 1:20 and opened the second half with an 11-2 run.
The decisive run, however, was Collinsville’s 10-0 run after Alton scored the first three points of the fourth quarter. The spurt gave CHS the seven-point margin that Alton could not overcome.
Scoring for Collinsville were: Brady-13, Morgan-11, Smith-11, Buettner-9, Brombolich-3 and Mahan-3
Billy said the team would enjoy the win only until they arrived home, then they would turn their attention to the Pink Out game at 1:30 Saturday against Breese Mater Dei at CHS.
The team may not savor the victory for long, but the players were soaking it in Thursday.
“I walked in (to the locker room) and they were smiling. It felt good,” Billy said.
