Matt Hampleman's girls' varsity basketball squad took care of a scrappy Pinckneyville bunch Tuesday night, 58-45, setting up a Mid-Winter Classic championship with the rival Herrin Lady Tigers Thursday night at Max Morris Gymnasium.
After a relatively close first quarter ended with a 14-8 West Frankfort lead, senior forward Gena Jones helped ignite an 11-4 scoring run to open up the second quarter by sandwiching two hard-nosed bank shots in the lane around a pair of free throws, extending the Lady Redbird lead to 23-10 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half.
Sophomore Jasmine Chromchak and senior Amy Bymaster each dropped in a pair of free throws in the final minute of the second to give West Frankfort a 29-14 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Redbirds relied heavily upon their inside game to maintain the lead, as Bymaster controlled the paint, scoring 10 of her game-high points in the second half, en route to the 'Birds' blow out victory.
"Amy (Bymaster) has kind of been our unsung hero all year," said Hampleman. "It always seems that when things aren't going our way, she steps up big for us. She had a really good game tonight, pulling down rebounds and hitting several shots."
Joining Bymaster in double figures were the other two-thirds of the Lady Redbirds' "Big Three," Jones and guard Genni Hickey, who dropped in 16 and 13 points respectively. Chromchak also pitched in with eight points of her own.
The Lady Panthers were led Emily Miller's 13 points.
"We played pretty well tonight," said Hampleman. "I was impressed with Pinckneyville, so it was nice to get the win. However, we need to continue to push ourselves to get better and get to where we want to be by season's end."
The win sets up a Thursday night championship rematch with Herrin, with whom the Redbirds' split their two previous contests earlier this year.
"Herrin is a good ball club and had become a rival of ours over the past couple of seasons. Thursday night should be a great ball game," said the coach.
FCHS 14 29 42 58
PCHS 8 14 28 45
