Game Balls: Top performances from the week in high school sports

Ellisha Davis and Myriah Haywood

The Lancers guards scored 14 points apiece as East came within a whisker of upsetting Edwardsville early in the week. Davis leads the Lancers (15-9) with a 10.4 scoring average, while Haywood averages 10.2 points.

A.J. Epenesa

The 6-foot-5 Epenesa, a University of Iowa football recruit, dropped in 21 points, including two powerful dunks, corralled 14 rebounds and dished out four assists as the Tigers toppled Belleville West 59-49 on Friday in a Southwestern Conference contest. Epenesa was 9-for-12 from the field. He is averaging 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds for the Tigers (16-4).

Shane Ganz

The junior guard with strong outside range came up huge Friday when he drained a banked-in 3-pointer at the buzzer in the Rockets’ 54-52 win over Class 3A Columbia, giving Okawville coach Jon Kraus his 300th career win. Ganz scored 19 points and junior guard Noah Frederking continued his strong season with a 20-point outing.

Terrence Hargrove and Kenny Roberson

Hargrove, a freshman, scored a career-high 18 points and teammate Kenny Roberson added 19 as East St. Louis kept Belleville East reeling with a 73-68 loss on Friday. Roberson also had 13 points in a 71-39 win over Soldan earlier in the week.

Fletcher Hopkins

Hopkins put himself into elite company Saturday when he won his fourth straight state title in the wheelchair division at the Boys State Bowling Tournament at St. Clair Bowl. Hopkins had games of 121, 103, 122 and 123 to finish with a 469 series.

Eric “E.J.” Liddell

The 6-6 freshman continued to shine as the Maroons split a pair of Southwestern Conference games. Liddell scored 32 points and collected six rebounds in a 69-68 overtime triumph against Belleville East on Tuesday. He was 13-for-19 from the field. On Friday, in a 59-49 loss to Edwardsville, Liddell had 14 points and six rebounds.

Chris McRoberts and Thomas Bell

McRoberts had 22 points and eight rebounds and Bell added 21 points and eight rebounds Saturday as the Cahokia Comanches (9-12) rolled to a 69-40 victory over Class 1A state-ranked Metro-East Lutheran at the Pinckneyville Panther Showcase. Bell is Cahokia’s top scorer at 11.5 points per game.

Shamond Moore

Moore, a senior, poured in 29 points and four 3-pointers Saturday and it still wasn’t enough as the Trojans lost 59-45 to Mount Carmel at the Pinckneyville Panther Showcase.

Andrew Orf and Matthew Toohey

This Panthers’ duo earned top-12 medals as it led the Panthers to a third-place finish Saturday at the Boys State Bowling Tournament at St. Clair Bowl. Orf placed third with 2,863 pins while Toohey was 11th with 2,756 pins.

Javon Pickett

It wasn’t a good week for the Lancers, who dropped Southwestern Conference games to Belleville West and East St. Louis, but it was no fault of Pickett’s – he amassed 46 points. The University of Illinois recruit scored 30 points in the Lancers’ 73-68 loss to East St. Louis.

Rachel Pranger, Makenzie Silvey and Christe’on Waters

The Tigers’ high-scoring trio combined for 52 points in a 62-23 win over Belleville West as Edwardsville (21-1, 9-0) moved closer to another Southwestern Conference championship. Ranked third in the Class 4A state poll, Edwardsville also got 16 points from Waters and 12 from Pranger in a 49-47 win over Belleville East earlier in the week.

Allie Troeckler

The leading girls basketball scorer in the metro-east at 22.3 points per game, Troeckler averaged over 20 points as she led the Eagles (16-9) to a second-place finish at the Carrollton Tournament. Civic Memorial lost 63-46 in the title game to Hardin Calhoun.

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Game Balls: Top performances from the week in high school sports."