Published: November 25, 2009 12:17 am      

Top seeds win in NTC girls tourney quarters

TEUTOPOLIS — Effingham St. Anthony opened the National Trail Conference Girls Basketball Tournament with a victory Tuesday evening at Teutopolis High School's J.H. Griffin Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs handed Brownstown/St. Elmo a 44-37 defeat in the second game of the evening. The Bulldogs stepped out to a 13-8 opening quarter lead as Victoria Wolke connected for five points and Lena Grunloh added four.

The Bombers came back with a 15-11 second quarter run to pull within 24-23 at the half. Brownstown/St. Elmo had even scoring as three players scored four points each and Kel-C Sefton connected on a three-pointer.

St. Anthony then had a 7-3 third quarter scoring edge to lead 31-26 going into the final period. St. Anthony had a slight 13-11 final quarter edge.

Grunloh, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, finished with 18 points to lead the winners. Wolke, a 5-9 senior, chipped in with 12. Leah Dallmier added eight.

Brownstown/St. Elmo was led by Abby Hill with 10 and Sefton with nine.

In the opening game of the evening, Neoga downed Dieterich 36-24. The Indians had a 12-7 second period run and a 10-4 final quarter scoring spurt to put the Maroons away.

Both teams had a slow start, scoring four points in the first period. Neoga then had a 12-7 run to lead 16-11 at the half. Molly Tarter and Amanda Baker tallied four points each in the quarter.

Neoga kept its run going to lead 26-20 going into the final period then outscored the Maroons 10-4. Although no one finished in double figures for the Indians, they had even scoring as Ashley Deters, Tarter and A. Baker tallied eight points each and Olivia Deters chipped in with six.

Dieterich was led by Chelsea Storm with eight points.

The evening's final game pitted No. 4 Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City against No. 5 Altamont, and the Hornets created some separation in the second half for a 59-41 victory.

Already leading 31-24 at halftime, CHBC outscored the Indians 13-3 to take a commanding 17-point edge into the final period.

Bailey Doty scored 22 for the Hornets, while Faith Wendte added 11. Jessica Zavoral and Kerry Phillips each scored eight to lead Altamont, which will play for the consolation championship Saturday against either Dieterich or Brownstown

St. Anthony and Neoga will now square off in a championship semifinal at 8:30 p.m. Friday, while the 6 p.m. semifinal pits No. 1 Teutopolis against CHBC.

Dieterich and Brownstown meet at 5:30 p.m. for a berth in the consolation title game.

NTC Tournament

Game One

DIETERICH (24)

Durbin 2-0 — 4, C. Niemerg 1-1 — 3, Goodman 1-1 — 3, Hartke 0-1 — 1, B. Niemerg 2-1 — 5, Storm 3-1 — 8. TOTALS 9 FG, 5 FT.

NEOGA (36)

Cornell 1-0 — 2, Schumacher 0-0 — 0, A. Deters 4-0 — 8, O. Deters 3-0 — 6, Tarter 4-0 — 8, A. Baker 3-2 — 8, Hotze 1-0 — 2, E. Baker 1-0 — 2. TOTALS 17 FG, 2 FT.

Dieterich---4----7-----9----4---—---24

Neoga-------4---12---10---10---—---36

3-point FG — Dieterich 1 (Storm 1), Neoga 0.

Game Two

BROWNS./ST. ELMO (37)

Sefton 2-3 — 9, Beasley 3-1 — 7, Myers 0-3 — 3, B. Maxey 4-0 — 8, Hill 5-0 — 10, White 0-0 — 0. TOTALS 14 FG, 7 FT.

ST. ANTHONY (44)

Brown 0-0 — 0, McHugh 0-2 — 2, Wolke 4-1 — 12, Schmidt 0-0 — 0, Hurn 0-0 — 0, Grunloh 8-2 — 18, Gray 2-0 — 4, Bishop 0-0 — 0, Willenborg 0-0 — 0, L. Dallmier 3-2 — 8. TOTALS 17 FG, 7 FT.

Browns./St. Elmo---8---15---3---11---—---37

St. Anthony---------13---11---7---13---—---44

3-point FG — Brownstown/St. Elmo 2 (Sefton 2), St. Anthony 3 (Wolke 3).

Game Three

ALTAMONT (41)

Zavoral 2-0 — 5, Childerson 2-0 — 4, Phillips 3-1 — 8, Ziegler 2-1 — 6, Haywood 1-0 — 2, Wendling 1-0 — 2, Spilker 2-0 — 4, Fulk 3-2 — 8, Janz 1-0 — 2. TOTALs 17 FG 4 FT.

CHBC (59)

Strauch 2-0 — 5, Wendte 5-1 — 11, Myers 1-0 — 2, Jones 4-0 — 8, Gardner 1-0 — 2, Shelton 4-1 — 9, Buchanan 0-0 — 0, Doty 9-2 — 22. TOTALS 26 FG 4 FT.

Altamont---8---16----3---14---—---41

CHBC-----15---16---13---15---—---59

3-point FG — Altamont 3 (Zavoral 1, Phillips 1, Ziegler 1), CHBC 3 (Strauch 1, Doty 2).