Kahok girls drop contest at Edwardsville

By Mark Jurgena

COLLINSVILLE — Thanks to a pair of late first half free throws by Talesha Gilmore, the Collinsville girls basketball team stayed right with Edwardsville for 16 minutes despite some shooting woes and only trailed 21-15 going into the locker room.

CHS cut into the lead down to four with an early second half bucket. The 6-0 run across the half was the Kahoks largest of the day, but the Tigers had seen enough.

Edwardsville went on a 19-7 run the remainder of the third quarter to open up a 16-point lead heading into the fourth and eventually took a 58-36 win.

Collinsville fell to 8-8 on the season and 3-2 in SWC play with the Tigers moved to 8-9 overall with the identical 3-2 SWC mark. Alton leads the conference with a 5-0 record.

CHS hit the first bucket of the game but quickly fell behind by as many as nine points on three occasions in the opening half but continually battled back. 

Gilmore had 10 points for the Kahoks in the opening half then hit all but two points in the third to lead the team with 17 points. She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Ella Guerrero contributed seven points and three assists for CHS.

Upcoming Schedule

Collinsville played at Waterloo on Monday then traveled to Alton on Tuesday. Results were unavailable at press time. Alton was ranked second in the state in the latest AP Class 4A poll after their 15-0 start. Wilmette (Loyola) was ranked number one in last week’s poll. Defending Class 4A state champ O’Fallon came in at number seven.

The Kahoks play at Fletcher Gym tonight (Thursday) against Belleville East.

CHS opens play at the 37th annual Highland Invitational Tournament on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. against the host school.

Win or lose the Kahoks play on Tuesday against either Breese (Central) or Waterloo. If they drop their opener they will play at 5:30 p.m. If they won their opener they will play at 8:30 p.m.