Story and photos by Chet Piotrowski Jr.
Charleston had to play perfectly to stand a chance against an Effingham team riding a four-game losing streak while celebrating its seniors Tuesday night.
It didn’t happen. The Trojans committed 14 first-half turnovers while only scoring twice en route to a 51-13 loss to the Hearts. Charleston lost 58-10 to the Hearts at home on Dec. 14.
“We had stretches where we played really well,” Charleston varsity girls basketball coach Jeremy Hudson said. “We got off to a really cold shooting start. We played hard defensively. I thought there was a five-minute stretch in the third quarter where we looked really good.”
Effingham raced out to a 6-0 lead before Addy Logsdon made her only bucket of the night.
Hearts senior Meredith Schaefer couLdn’t miss from beyond the arc, making three 3-pointers. Schaefer led all scorers with 10 points.
“It’s about putting it together for a full 32-minutes,” Hudson said. “I think the positives are there it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
Effingham’s Ella Niebrugge guards Charleston’s Ellie Long as she looks for a teammate Tuesday evening. 
Effingham’s Marissa Allie and Coralin Ohnesorge battle Charleston’s Annalise Logsdon for a loose ball Tuesday evening. 
Charleston’s Addason Logsdon shoots the ball over Effingham’s Ella Niebrugge and Marissa Allie Tuesday evening.
While the turnover miscues didn’t lead directly to points, it didn’t allow Charleston to set up its offense.
“(Effingham varsity girls head coach Jeff Schafer) did a great job of disguising his defense a little bit,” Hudson said. “They played man but made you break out of your zone to get into your man offense. That got us out of our offense and had a hard time entering the ball in our offense and getting going.”
Hudson said it was a defense they hadn’t seen before.
“That was tough for us,” he said. “We weren’t getting into any rhythm. After three, four, five times of throwing the ball out of bounds, then you start to stand a little bit and you lose your movement.”
Charleston’s Allason Logsdon said the Effingham defense was aggressive, but she said they should’ve learned from the last game against the Hearts.
“They’re an aggressive team,” she said. “They have a really good coach and they come out strong. We should’ve learned from the last time. We just weren’t in the game. None of us were.”
Charleston’s inability to get down the court hurt, Logsdon said.
“We weren’t rebounding to set up transition down the court,” she said. “Once we did get setup on offense they were overplaying and we wouldn’t read the defense correctly. We would make the wrong move and go the wrong way. It’s a mistake that be fixed easily. We’ll learn from this.”
| Charleston | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 13 |
| Effingham | 13 | 13 | 17 | 8 | 51 |
CHARLESTON – Long 2 0-0 5, Addy Logsdon 1 0-0 2, Jones 2 0-1 4, Campbell 1 0-0 2, Totals: 6 0-1 13. 3-pointers:Long 1.
EFFINGHAM – Mapes 3 0-0 6, Ohnesorge 2 1-2 7, Hodge 1 0-0 3, Sawyer Althoff 2 2-4 6, Niebrugge 3 0-0 8, Beals 0 0-2 0, Phillips 1 0-0 2, Schaefer 3 1-2 10, Moser 1 0-0 2, Thompson 2 0-2 2, Donaldson 2 0-0 2. Totals: 18 4-14 51 3-pointers: Ohnesorge 2, Hodge 1, Niebrugge 2, Schaefer 3.
Coles County Sports 