Kahok girls beat Warriors in final contest at Nashville

By Mark Jurgena

Collinsville’s final lead was their largest one as they pulled away at the very end of the game with a 10-1 run to subdue Trenton (Wesclin) 55-42 in the 7th place contest at the Nashville Thanksgiving Tournament Saturday afternoon.

The Kahoks dominated the opening quarter as five CHS players scored to stake them to a 12-2 advantage with one minute to play in the opening frame. The defense limited Wesclin to 2-for-13 shooting and CHS led 12-5 going into the 2nd quarter.

Collinsville and Wesclin traded shots for most of the period before the Kahoks closed out the half with a 5-0 run thanks to buckets by Emma Hrabusicky and Talesha Gilmore. Lily Carlyle also hit a free throw and Collinsville led 26-19 into the half.

In the third, the two clubs battled back and forth with CHS taking a ten point advantage on a Gilmore bucket at 2:23 but Wesclin battled back before another late bucket from Gilmore made it 38-29 after three.

Gilmore and Janson sealed the victory in the final quarter, combining for 17 points in the last stanza.

Offensively, Gilmore dropped 21 points while Janson had 13.

Mt.Vernon 79 Collinsville 71

It was an analytics dream game.

Mt. Vernon came out firing up threes early and often as they steadily pulled away from Collinsville on Nov. 25 at Nashville.

Of their 36 1st half shots, 16 of them were from beyond the three-point arc. They hit five. Collinsville took 25 opening half shots going 0-for-7 from three. 

Despite this onslaught, the Kahoks hung in the game through one quarter of play thanks to a 9-2 run at the end of the period. Gilmore had five points in that span while Janson and Jenna Scheller also had buckets for CHS.

MTV used a big 18-2 run early in the 2nd quarter to expand an 18-17 lead into a 17-point advantage with 2:02 left. Eventually, the Rams carried a 38-25 lead into the half.

They increased their lead to 18 at one point in the 3rd quarter before a couple of Kahok runs whittled the Rams advantage to 57-49 headed into the last stanza.

Trailing by 18 in the third, CHS got a quick 11-0 run in just over a minute thanks to a pair of conventional three-point plays by Katie Bardwell and Janson. Bardwell then hit Collinsville’s first three-point shot before Janson capped the run with a bucket at the four minute mark.

The Rams quickly put together an 11-1 run of their own before the Kahoks ran off nine quick points to end the third. Janson had six during the spree while Ella Guerrero hit a last second three.

But Collinsville could not get any closer as MTV went 5-for-6 beyond the arc during those final eight minutes and were up 16 when they brought their starters out.

For the game, Janson dropped 27 points while Bardwell had 13. Gilmore also tossed in 13 points.

MTV is 5-2 on the season after last weekend’s games.

Mascoutah 61 Collinsville 40

On Nov. 22, CHS fell to Mascoutah in their second game at Nashville.

Janson had 11 points, Guerrero had nine including three from long range, and Talesha scored eight to lead Collinsville. Gilmore led the squad with five rebounds.

Mascoutah was 4-1 on the young season.

Freeburg 56 Collinsville 42

Freeburg got out to an 8-0 lead early and a 16-5 advantage by the end of the first quarter and ended up beating Collinsville 56-42 in the opening game of the Nashville Tourney on Nov. 21.

In that opening frame, the Midgets forced seven turnovers. Freeburg hit five shots which were one more than Collinsville took during those eight minutes.

Freeburg jumped out to an 8-0 lead before getting buckets by Janson and Jenna to cut the lead in half. Freeburg then went on another 8-0 run in the 1st quarter. That string was broken by a Gilmore free throw for the final margin between quarters.

To start the next stanza, FCHS went on a 9-3 run with the lone Kahok basket coming from Hrabusicky.

Scheller, Gilmore, and Janson also scored during the frame and CHS went to the locker room down 29-15.

CHS found themselves down 33-15 early in the third before Scheller hit a bucket and Gilmore hit a pair to cut the lead down to eleven. Janson had the assist on all three baskets. 

The rest of the quarter saw the Kahoks go 6-for-6 from the line thanks to Janson, Bardwell, and Carsyn Moad. However, Freeburg led 42-28 after three.

Collinsville came out fighting in the last period as Janson scored seven straight points and the CHS defense forced four turnovers to cut the lead to seven.

The lead would fluctuate between eight and ten points as Janson hit a pair of free throws and Carlisle had a putback basket. But Freeburg would pull away late from the free throw line by going 8-for-13 in the final four minutes.

Janson led the Kahoks with 16 points while Gilmore, Scheller, and Hrabusicky had seven each.

Gilmore had six rebounds and Janson four assists to lead Collinsville.

Freeburg was 2-2 in 2022 after falling 55-36 to Okawville in the Nashville Tournament championship game.