Du Quoin girls fall to Hamilton County

DU QUOIN -- The makings of an upset were there. But then Hamilton County showed why it's so dang good.
The Du Quoin High School girls basketball team had the Lady Foxes down by eight in the second quarter and Elizabeth Bird back on the court.
Hamilton County took control, however, and dominated the second half for a 55-41 non-conference victory over the Lady Indians at Anders Gymnasium.
A week earlier, the Lady Foxes emerged from Benton's Christmas tournament as champions with an 18-1 overall record.
Du Quoin was coming off a loss to Nashville on Thursday following a tough one-point defeat to Chester in Lebanon's tournament. Bird, one of last year's top players as a sophomore, played her first game of this season since the opening week in the road tilt at Nashville.
Bird came off the bench Saturday and her first basket, followed by a jumper from Katie Smith, gave the Lady Indians a 14-6 with 6:30 left in the second quarter.
This was after Du Quoin opened the game by scoring the first seven points. The first five came from Chloe Hill before a pair of free throws from Delaynie Dearmond.
But the Lady Foxes chipped away and tied the game at 16-16 on a free throw by Kaleigh Dodson, a senior who scored her 1,000th career point in the first half. Then a bucket by Jevin Shreve put the Lady Foxes in front and they didn't look back.
Shreve hit a 3-pointer to make it 23-16 early in the third. Du Quoin answered with a triple by Meryn Gross, but Hamilton County turned a pair of turnovers into an eight-point lead before Ayanna Dunklin converted a three-point play.
Du Quoin got points from Lauren Heape, Bird and Bailey Harsey in the final three minutes of the frame but Hamilton County kept scoring and took a 39-27 lead into the fourth.
In what seemed like a blink, the lead was pushed out to 46-29 on baskets from Dodson, Shreve and Grace Lueke.
Hamilton County's Kolby Brake finished as the game's leading scorer with 14 points, folowed by Shreve at 13 and Dodson with 10. Lueke chipped in nine for the Lady Foxes, who were 5 of 16 from the foul line.
Du Quoin didn't have a player reach double figures. Katie Smith led the Lady Indians with nine points and Bird had eight.
Dunklin chipped in six, Hill finished with five, Heape and Dearmond both had four and Gross had three. Harsy and Maddie Robison both had one point. Du Quoin was 11 of 17 from the charity stripe.
Du Quoin plays at Carterville on Tuesday night.