Lancers defeat O’Fallon in conference showdown

Senior Ellisha Davis and sophomore Myriah Haywood gave the scorekeeper a workout with a combined 53 points, but it was Belleville East’s high-pressure defense that made the difference in an early Southwestern Conference battle Wednesday.

The Lancers blitzed O’Fallon into an early hole, then hung on through a determined comeback attempt to defeat the Panthers 73-63.

“I was proud of our effort and intensity early in the game because it’s what we like to do,” said East head coach Amanda Kemezys. “I’d just like to see us sustain it a little better. We could never put the nail in their coffin.”

East, 5-2 and winners of three straight, opened a 46-22 lead on Haywood’s personal five-point run midway through the third quarter. But O’Fallon scored 20 points in a five-minute span of the fourth to narrow the lead to nine points.

The rally fizzled when East sank 13 straight free throws, but Panther coach Ryan Massey still walked off the floor at the end of the game with a triumphant fist pump.

“We had a heart-to-heart at half time and I told them they could define themselves by the way they came out in the second half,” he said. “Are we going to just roll over and say ‘we’re going to learn from this and move on?’ Or are we going to come out and battle? They battled and they showed me a lot about who they are.”

KEY MOMENT

The Lancers opened the game on a 20-2 run, led by Haywood’s eight points. The scoring was accommodated, however, with pressure defense that forced the shell-shocked Panthers to turn the ball over.

Jayla Stubblefield hit a 3-pointer and Becca Althoff completed another three-point play at the free throw line to narrow the Lancer lead to 12 points in the second quarter, but East responded with another run to take a 21-point lead into halftime.

“They came out on fire in the first half and we just panicked — we let that pressure get to us,” Massey said. “It was the middle of the second quarter before we got our legs, but by that time they had opened it up to 21 points.”

Still, O’Fallon knocked down seven of its nine 3-pointers in the second half — “they made some shots we didn’t expect to fall,” Kemezys said — and were down by just nine with 2:33 left to play.

It was Davis and Haywood who once again took care of business at the free-throw line, hitting 13 of their last 14 to cinch the victory.

“Taking care of the free throws and protecting the ball down the stretch is what helped us pull it out,” Kemezys said. “That’s something that has been a bit of an Achilles for us, so it was big.”

KEY PERFORMERS

Haywood had a game-high 30 points and Davis added 23. Freshman Kayla Rainey pitched in 13 points for East, including nine in the first half.

Marta Durk led O’Fallon with 21 points, 17 of which were scored in the second half. Durk, Althoff, Eboni Acoff, Desiree Mosely and Emily Hopkins all had 3s during the Panthers’ comeback bid.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Lancers defeat O’Fallon in conference showdown."