Love Scores 16, Harris 14 As Tigers Use Good Team Effort In Defeating Granite City 53-16

EDWARDSVILLE - Senior point guard Que Love led the way with 16 points, while sophomore forward Sydney Harris added 14 as the Edwardsville High girls basketball team had a great team effort in going on to a 53-16 win over Granite City Friday night at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

The Tigers jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game. and never trailed in raising their record to 10-0 heading into the Visitation Christmas Tournament, where Edwardsville is the number two seed behind Incarnate Word Academy of north St. Louis County.

Edwardsville played a very good team game throughout the four quarters, shot well and played well defensively.

"I thought we did," said Tigers head coach Lori Blade. "We shot it really well the first half, which was good to see, get a little confidence going, and moved the ball, was very unselfish, and everything like that. But we go again tomorrow, so it's going to be a quick turnaround, and we'll go from there."

The Tigers will play the host Vivettes in the tournament's opening round on Saturday afternoon, and Blade is looking forward to playing again in what is probably the biggest tournament of its kind in the St. Louis area.

"We are," Blade said. "It's a big tournament, very competitive tournament, and hopefully going to compete well in it once again, and go from there."

Getting back to the night's game, it was a very good team effort all around for Edwardsville.

"It was a good team effort," Blade said. "Like I said, they're very unselfish, move the ball, good discipline defensively, and just did a good job as a team."

And as the number two seed in the upcoming Visitation tournament, Blade is looking forward to playing many of the best St. Louis-area teams the Tigers don't ordinarily get to play against, as well as some other intangibles.

"The fun part is we get to go for the holiday; a lot of families home and that kind of thing," Blade said. "And probably the best part of it all is we get to see some teams we don't always get to see. So that's the good part. We get to see Visitation again, and then, either Westminster-Nerinx (Hall), and go from there. But very good, talented group of teams, programs that are good, day in and day out, and hopefully, we'll get to put together a good four days to compete."

Many of the team's alumni players were in attendance as well, with a game that was played after the varsity game. Having many of the program's former players meant a lot to Blade.

"It does," Blade said. "It's going to be fun, I think. We've got a lot of kids back, young people back that just graduated, and some older kids --- I call them kids; they're kids to me --- but it's good to see them come out. And hopefully, they'll come back to a game. But I think they'll have a good time, and they haven't seen each other a lot lately, so that's always good to get them back in here."

The legacy of the Edwardsville girls basketball program is a very strong one indeed.

"It is," Blade said. "Coach (Sharon) Petty's here, and was one of the first coaches in the program; that's quite an honor to have in the building to watch the kids play, and coach (Caty) Ponce is going to get to play. But it should be a fun 30 minutes or so to see them get up and down."

The Tigers scored the game's opening nine points in the first three minutes, as Harris hit on a three, Love scored off a steal, along with a Harris free throw, a baseline jumper from Love and another free throw from Katelynne Roberts to stake Edwardsville to their lead. Harris hit on another jumper before Azaria Moore scored in the lane for Granite's first basket, but after that, the Tigers went on an 11-0 run the remainder of the quarter as Love, Ariana Bennett, Kylie Burg and Macy Silvey all scored during the run to make it 22-2 after the first quarter.

The Tigers then scored the first 15 points of the second quarter, getting baskets from Bennett, Love twice, a three from Silvey, another basket from Love and a basket from Maria Smith before a Kaylyn Wiley three shortly before the buzzer made the score 37-5 for Edwardsville at halftime.

In the third quarter, Harris, Elle Evans and Roberts all scored baskets to start before another Wiley three made the score 43-8. Love and Silvey scored again, then Alex Powell hit another three for the Warriors before the end of the quarter to make it 47-11 after three. The fourth quarter running clock rule was in effect, as Harris hit twice, one a three ball, and Erica Hurst hit a pair of free throws and Ellie Wiehardt hit a three for Granite before the final buzzer, sealing the Tigers' 53-16 win.

Edwardsville is now 10-0 and plays the host school on Saturday afternoon in their Visitation Christmas Tournament opener, with the tip-off coming at 1 p.m. The Warriors drop to 1-8, and will play in the Duchesne Catholic Holiday Tournament in St. Charles, Mo., playing Notre Dame of south St. Louis County in their first round matchup Dec. 27, with the tip-off coming at 12 noon.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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