Lady Vols come up short at SWIC

By JOHN D. HOMAN, Logan Media Services

All-American candidate Jannelle Cannon poured in 32 points Wednesday night to lead the Southwestern Illinois College Blue Storm to a 61-54 Great Rivers Athletic Conference home victory over John A. Logan College.

Cannon, who was leading the nation in scoring at 25 points per game prior to Wednesday’s match, knocked down 9-of-22 shots from the field and 13-of-14 free throws in tallying her 32. She also had four rebounds and four steals. No other SWIC player reached double figures.

JALC sophomore transfer Autumn Miller goes up for two of her team-high 18 points Wednesday night at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville. It marked Miller’s highest offensive output of the season. (Photo courtesy Jonathan LeBlond)

Logan was led by sophomore guard Autumn Miller’s 18 points (5-of-8 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point land) and 4-of-6 at the charity stripe. Freshman post player Ashley Yateman contributed 10 points for the Vols, who fall to 7-3 overall, 1-1 in the conference. Adding eight points each were Kyra Navarrete and BreAnn Denny.

Logan trailed 26-24 at the half thanks to an 11-2 run to close out the first 20 minutes. The Vols had led by seven at 22-15 as Yateman scored four consecutive lay-ins off feeds from her teammates.

The Vols pulled within two in the second half at 37-35 on a jumper by Navarrete, but would get no closer. Cannon scored the next four points to give the Blue Storm a more comfortable spread.

The Vols shot poorly overall, converting 20-of-60 shots, including 6-of-18 from long range.

Logan head coach Marty Hawkins took the loss in stride.

“Once we got behind in the second half, it was hard for us to catch up, especially with all the free throws they were making (17-of-22),” Hawkins said. “I thought Autumn rose to the occasion and Ashley gave us a good run there in the first half. But we did a poor job against their 2-3 zone in the second half, throwing the ball away – a lot of high school floater passes.”

The Vols close out the first half of the season Dec. 15 with a 1 p.m. game against Mineral Area College in Carterville.