EFFINGHAM — It’s never bad when you check a first off the list.
The St. Anthony girls basketball team accomplished that on Monday night when the Bulldogs defeated Teutopolis, 62-49, at the Enlow Center. The victory marked the first time in the program’s history that St. Anthony had beaten the Lady Shoes.
“We’ve had moments against them the last few years,” Bulldogs head coach Aaron Rios said. “I’m super proud because you lose somebody like Stacie Vonderheide out of your lineup and you’re trying to figure out what you do. We’re 11 games into this thing and we’ve been competitive.
“We’re not the St. Anthony of six years ago who would get beat by 38 or 40. Our kids appreciate that we have a disciplined program, a winning tradition and a great culture and want to go out and play games like this and be excited about it.”
Unofficially, the streak stood at 30 games.
After the first quarter, it seemed like that number would be erased and replaced with a 31.
T-Town led St. Anthony 13-6 after the opening eight minutes.
Struggling in the first quarter is nothing new for the Bulldogs, though.
In each of the last four years, St. Anthony hasn’t faired well in the opening period against the Lady Shoes. Last season, T-Town led 16-5 at the end of the first. Two years ago, the Lady Shoes led 11-2, and three years ago, it was a 19-10 advantage for T-Town.
“I started thinking when we were down (in the first quarter), ‘Why can we not get over the Wrigley Field curse and try to figure out how we can get a first quarter together?’” Rios said. “We did really well from the second quarter on.”
Chloe Probst opened the contest with a mid-range shot. Addi Nuxoll knotted the game with one of her own at the other end.
Probst made a second mid-range basket. Malea Helmink followed with a layup, Mollie Ruholl hit a shot, and Helmink made a second to make it 10-2.
Nancy Ruholl then made a layup, cutting the deficit to seven, with 1:30 left in the opening frame.
St. Anthony responded by outscoring the Lady Shoes 18-4 in the second. The Bulldogs led 24-17 at the intermission.
Kelsey Niemerg made a pair of free throws to start the period.
Eastern Illinois softball recruit Adysen Rios went on a personal 6-0 run to push St. Anthony closer to the lead.
Niemerg made two more free throws, extending the T-Town lead to four, 17-13.
The Bulldogs closed the half on an 11-0 run, highlighted by Nancy Ruholl’s eight points.
Lilly Gannaway started the run with a three-pointer. Nancy Ruholl then made back-to-back triples and a midrange shot.
Gannaway closed the half by drawing a charge after Anna Probst drove to the basket, trying to score.
St. Anthony never trailed the rest of the way.
“I’m proud of how our kids competed from beginning to end,” Aaron said.
The Lady Shoes had chances to tie the contest.
On two occasions, T-Town mustered runs ending with three-point play opportunities. Both times ended with missed free throws.
“We never got over the hump tonight,” Lady Shoes head coach Laurie Thompson said. “We had the opportunity to get this ballgame closer than what it was and we didn’t do it.”
Chloe Probst finished with 14 points and Mollie Ruholl had nine.
Both had four and three points in the first half, respectively. Both also dealt with foul trouble during the opening 16 minutes.
“I know who to put in for (Chloe), but when Chloe and Mollie both get in foul trouble, we’ve never had to deal with that,” Thompson said. “You could see that the wheels came off. Those are juniors out there and we’ve got to learn to play without Chloe and Mollie because that situation could happen again.”
Aaron said the strategy against Chloe Probst was to put his best on-ball defender on her.
“Put our best on-ball defender on her, don’t help at all and make it tough on her,” he said.
Malea Helmink finished with a team-best 16 points. Niemerg had eight and Anna Probst and Allie Ruholl each had one.
Adysen Rios led the Bulldogs with 20 points, two off tying her career-high, set during a contest her junior season against Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City.
“It wasn’t just me; I couldn’t have done it without our posts getting the rebounds or the guards getting the steals,” Adysen said. “It was definitely our best all-around team win tonight. It’s crazy to think that actually happened.”
Nancy Ruholl had 17 points.
Addi Nuxoll pitched in with 10.
“Nuxoll did a phenomenal job,” Aaron said. “Their bigs are legit. They always are. They’re tough, strong and difficult around the basket. It’s hard to compete against that level of play and Nuxoll, being a senior, knows what she needs to do.
“That’s what we expect her to do every night.”
Addie Lauritzen finished with seven points and Kallie Kabbes and Gannaway each had four.
“I think what we did tonight was play our best all-around game,” Aaron said. “Adysen Rios helped on both sides of the basketball floor tonight. We had people helping all over the place.”