The Collinsville Lady Kahoks trailed by five points entering the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon, but saw any chance of a comeback vanish on the right arm of Breese Mater Dei’s Lindsey Perkes.
Collinsville Head Coach Lori Billy addresses the crowd before the Pink Out game / Photo by Roger Starkey
Frequently left with open looks at the basket in the quarter, Perkes went 5-6 from the floor in the quarter, including 4-4 from 3-point range. The Lady Knights went 9-11 from the field in the final period and turned a five-point fourth quarter lead into a 63-47 victory.
Collinsville Head Coach Lori Billy said her team missed some defensive assignments in the trap they employed in the fourth quarter, attempting to get back into the game, and Mater Dei (6-4) made them pay.
“We didn’t have people rotate into the right places. You get kind of panicky in those situations because you’re going everywhere to trap the ball,” Billy said. “We’d miss a rotation and they’d score.”
Opponents’ offensive rebounds have plagued the Lady Kahoks (3-7) all season. The team’s focus on improving at boxing off showed Saturday. Mater Dei snagged only four offensive rebounds, three of those in the second quarter. However, the hot shooting Lady Knights did not have too many chances for offensive rebounds.
Mater Dei shot 58.5 percent from the field for the game, including 8 of 15 from beyond the arc. For good measure, they knocked down 7 of 8 free throw attempts. CHS made 41 percent of their field goal attempts, 5 of 13 from 3-point territory.
Despite the Lady Knights stellar shooting performance, Collinsville trailed only 35-34 with 2 minutes 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter after an Aubreeney Brady steal and layup. It was the second time in three possessions Brady stole the ball and converted a layup to bring her team to within a point.
Samantha Buettner led the Kahoks with 12 points. Perkes’ 23 points nearly tripled her 8.6 points per game average entering the contest. No other player scored in double digits for either team.
Scoring for Collinsville were: Buettner-12, Thompson-7, Brady-6, Smith-6, Mahan-6, Brombolich-6, Morgan-4.
The contest on the court was only part of the story Saturday. The game, dubbed “Pink Out,” was a fundraiser for the KAHOKstrong charitable group at CHS. Both teams wore pink warm-up shirts, and both coaching staffs wore pink t-shirts. Multiple fund raising efforts took place throughout the game.
The Lady Kahoks played a major role in organizing the event. Their effort was not lost on their coach.
“I told the girls that I was really proud of the fact that they worked so hard and did what they did to create an event like that for the community,” Billy said.
Collinsville next plays at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at home against Granite City.
