Kahok girls win twice last week

By Mark Jurgena

Collinsville came up with a big win Saturday morning at the Southern Illinois Classic Shootout Series on the former campus of Lindenwood University-Belleville.

They recorded a big 62-35 win over Springfield (Southeast) to kick off the day.

“In that game, everybody had a good game, everybody,” said CHS coach Colin Moore. “There was nothing you can say that anybody did poorly. Megan (Janson) scored early and a lot in transition, Ella (Guerrero) had a few assists just making all the right plays, and then Talesha (Gilmore) had one of those monster games where she had 16 rebounds. One of my subs, Ellie Rhinehart, had 11 rebounds. We just dominated the boards, that’s why we won the game.”

Gilmore led the way with another double-double, her third in the last four games. She had 19 points and 16 rebounds in this one. Just to take it one step further she had 12 of those boards on the defensive end.

“She’s averaging 14 points and ten rebounds a game as a sophomore, she just keeps improving,” said Moore. “She’s willing to take some jump shots now. They aren’t going in as much but it’s allowing her to get more space inside because they know they have to guard her now.”

Janson had 15 points and filled up the stat sheet with five assists and four steals as well.

Guerrero, who has switched roles with Janson at the point, compiled 12 points including a pair of threes. She had three assists and three steals for the contest.

“I think Ella has stepped into this new role handling the ball more and it has allowed Megan to score more, Talesha, and even Ella to score more.”

But again it was the dominant rebounding that sealed the victory for CHS. They collected 39 for the contest.

“It’s something we’ve been working on lately,” said Moore. “Our offense is pretty good, we just struggle to get rebounds sometimes. We know we can score, we just have to be able to stop the other team from getting two, three, four shots at the basket.”

CHS 52 West 39

Collinsville used an 18-2 burst in the second quarter to pull away from Belleville West on Dec. 6 and secure a 52-39 SWC victory in Belleville.

“We talked about a more upbeat pace at the beginning of the game but in the first quarter it didn’t really go as well as we wanted defensively, but I think playing that pace wore West down a little bit and they got in some foul trouble and it slowed them down a little bit,” said Moore.

Despite the faster pace, the Maroons maintained a 16-14 advantage after the opening eight minutes.

However, the Kahoks and their veteran starters kept going while West wasn’t able to.

“That was dictated by Megan and then Jenna and Talesha inside,” said Moore. “Megan was just doing it all, they didn’t really have an answer for her. 

“Once she can spread the defense out it allows Jenna and Talesha or anybody that’s willing to go inside to go,” said Moore. “We had such a big size advantage against them. Once we got the lead, we just iced the game. It was nice to get out of there with a win.”

The big second quarter outburst put them up 32-18 at the half. The Kahoks extended their lead to 47-30 after three.

Janson had a game high 13 points with four assists and four steals while Scheller had 12 points and eight rebounds for CHS.

Gilmore had eight points to go with her 15 rebounds. It was the third straight game she had registered double-digit rebounds.

Four Kahoks buried threes in the contest. Emma Hrabusicky hit both of her attempts while Katie Bardwell went 2-for-3. Janson and Ella Guerrero each hit one.

“We had a few girls make some jump shots which was good for them to make some shots in key situations to help their confidence a little bit,” said Moore. 

The Kahoks are 6-3 overall and tied atop the SWC standings at 3-0 with Alton.

East St. Louis Forfeit

The Dec. 8 Kahok contest at East St. Louis was forfeited by the Flyerettes after an altercation toward the end of their home contest with Alton on Dec. 6. Three games against Collinsville, University City, Mo., and Alton (Marquette) were forfeited.

As of press time the team was to resume play tonight at Belleville West.

Each of the forfeits counts as a 2-0 win for their opponents.

Upcoming Schedule

After facing Triad Monday night, Collinsville hosts O’Fallon tonight at Fletcher Gym.