Nelson scores 48 in Altamont's win over CHBC. Can the future Illinois State Redbird win Illinois Miss Basketball?

Dec. 15—ALTAMONT — Grace Nelson scored 48 points and the Altamont girls basketball team defeated Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City (CHBC) Thursday night at Altamont High School.

"We say we're going to get everyone's best shot and we do," said head coach Craig Carr of his team's 87-63 victory. "It seems like a lot of people shoot really well against us; that's partly because there's not a ton of resistance sometimes, but that's OK. CHBC has some kids that can put the ball in the basket and we did a lot better job in the second half of staying with shooters, rebounding and not letting their bigs get to us in the paint."

The Lady Indians and Bobcats were tied at 18 at the end of the first quarter.

Nelson started the scoring with a three-pointer. Peyton Osteen then hit one with 6:12 left.

CHBC's Marissa Summers then went on a personal 5-0 run, cutting the Altamont lead to one point with 4:58 left. Ruby Stuckemeyer then followed with a layup to give the Bobcats a one-point advantage.

Nelson then hit a layup with 4:21 to go and Osteen knocked down her second three-pointer to make it 11-7.

Stuckemeyer then hit a short shot in the paint and Marissa Summers hit a midrange shot to put CHBC ahead, 12-11, with two minutes left.

Karlee Smith followed with a layup to make it 14-11. Nelson then hit a layup to make it 14-13.

Shae Nohren hit a midrange shot after that to extend the Bobcat lead to three points.

Rodman then started the second quarter with a three-pointer that broke the tie.

Nelson then hit a layup and forced a steal and converted another layup to tie the game at 22.

Smith then followed that with a layup of her own before Kylie Osteen hit a midrange shot to tie the game at 24.

Rodman knocked down another three-pointer to put CHBC ahead 27-24.

The Lady Indians then went on a 5-0 run. Nelson forced a steal and made a layup and Kaylee Lurkins hit a layup to make it 29-27.

Nohren followed with a layup to tie the game.

Smith then hit a layup to put the Bobcats ahead 31-30 before a floater in the lane from Peyton Osteen made it 32-31.

Another Smith layup would then cut the Altamont lead to one point, 34-33, before a Nelson layup made it 36-33.

Rodman then hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 36.

Lurkins then answered with a three-pointer play to push the hosts ahead by three points, 40-37.

The Lady Indians held a 41-39 lead heading into halftime.

Altamont then outscored CHBC 20-11 in the third and 26-13 in the fourth.

"They're just better than us," Bobcat head coach Marc Bain said.

"It's hard to stop a Divison-I girl and they're the No. 1 team in the conference for a reason. I thought the key point in the game was we had a chance to cut it to six right at the end of the third quarter and we turned it over and they hit a back three; that took all the momentum."

Aside from Nelson, Lurkins finished with 12 points.

Peyton Osteen had 10 points. Claire Boehm had five. Skylie Klein had four. Libby Reardon and Brianna Grunloh each had three and Kylie Osteen had two.

As for CHBC, Rodman led with 19 points.

Smith had 16 points. Baya Fingo had nine. Summers had seven. Stuckmeyer and Nohren each had four. Koda Colman had two and Averie Vaughn and Madison Dawson each had one.

The Lady Indians improved to 8-2 and 5-0 in the National Trail Conference (NTC) with the win. They have won their six games.

As for the Bobcats, they fell to 7-6 and 1-1 in the NTC.

MAKING HER CASE FOR ILLINOIS MISS BASKETBALL

Nelson is now averaging 33.7 points per game in 10 contests this year for Altamont and is making a strong case for Illinois Miss Basketball — a coveted award bestowed upon one player, regardless of classification, at the end of the season.

A Class 1A player has never won the prestigious award since Illinois moved to four classes before the 2007-2008 season began.

Before that, Brittany Johnson of Olney (East Richland) — a Class A school at the time — was the last to win it.

If Nelson were to earn the award at season's end, she would become the second player in the Effingham Daily News coverage area to win the award, joining Teutopolis' Doris Carie in 1986 and the third future Illinois State player to win, joining Hume Shiloh's Courtney Porter — who won it in 1990 — and Seneca's Cindy Kaufman — who won it in 1987.

Contact EDN Sports Editor

Alex Wallner at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.