Emily Holten had two goals and an assist, and the Collinsville Kahoks held off a late charge from the Granite City Warriors for a 4-3 Southwestern Conference victory Thursday night.

Holten tallied both her goals, along with earning her assist, during a wild second-half sequence that saw the teams combine for four goals in a span of 12 minutes and 8 seconds, following a first half that didn’t see either team even manage a shot on goal.

With the win, Collinsville (9-4-1, 5-0) extended its conference unbeaten streak to 25 games.

“That first half, we just could not connect,” said Collinsville coach Clay Smith, “but that’s why the games are 80 minutes long.

“Our girls were good. They kept attacking the goal, and eventually it paid off.”

Holten’s first goal, a line drive from 35 yards out following a nice up-field run by Andrea Frerker, put the Kahoks up 1-0 just under 10 minutes into the second half.

However, Granite City (9-3, 2-2) quickly answered with the first of two Lexi Grote free-kick goals less than two minutes later.

Key sequence

Holten notched the tie-breaking goal, taking a crossing pass from the left side from Alynnah O’Leary in front of the net and tipping it past Warriors goalie Viktoria Johnson at 19:58 into the second half.

Just 66 seconds later, Holten was at it again, finding Courtney Marten open on the right side to make it 3-1.

“Granite’s a good team, and we knew we could not afford to rush things,”said Holten, who was last season’s News-Democrat Large School Player of the Year. “It was just about being patient and making the most of our opportunities when we got them.”

Collinsville’s lead reached 4-1 when Marten was the winner of a scrum in front of the Warriors’ net and got the ball past Johnson.

“The ball was just kind of going back and forth, pinballing off people,” said Marten. “I just kept kicking at it, although I was falling down. Somehow, I got it in.”

Granite’s Grace Neidhart cut the deficit to 4-2 with a goal off a corner kick with 3:05 to go. Grote’s second free-kick goal of the match later made it 4-3 with 1:03 left.

Collinsville, however, was able to close out the match without facing another scoring threat.

“I like the way we played to the end,” said Granite City coach Ken Prazma, “but there are a couple of things I was not too happy with. To me, those goals we gave up were easy ones. Those girls were unmarked, and that can’t happen.

“The girls just have to realize they have to play all 80 minutes, rather than the last 20.”

Triad 3, Althoff 0

Sam Bassler, Erynn Little and Katie Rogers all scored goals as the Knights posted a win over Althoff (8-5-1).

Bassler and Little also had assists for Triad (11-2).

Knights goaltender Mercedes King stopped all four Althoff shots on goal.