CARROLLTON – After opening the 44th Carrollton Lady Hawk Invitational with a loss, Metro-East Lutheran got back on the winning track Wednesday night.
MELHS, the No. 11 seed, beat 14th-seeded Granite City 38-21 in a consolation quarterfinal.
Metro, which built an early nine-point lead, overcame a sluggish offensive outing thanks to a solid defensive effort. MELHS held Granite City to 12 points in the first half and nine points in the second half.
But after a strong start, the Knights struggled to find their offensive rhythm. MELHS had 20 turnovers, including 14 in the first half.
“We have to push as hard as we can, but sometimes we need to slow our offense and defense down,” sophomore Destiny Williams said. “We had a lot of turnovers, but I feel like we toned them down at the end.”
The Knights, who lost to third-seeded Jerseyville on Saturday, improved to 12-8.
Metro advances to the consolation semifinals, where it will play 10th-seeded Greenfield at 5 p.m. Friday. Greenfield advanced with a 62-21 win over No. 15 Brussels on Wednesday.
Junior Sami Kasting had a game-high nine points for Metro, which won for the third time in four games. Williams and junior Ellen Schulte added eight points apiece.
Granite City had 25 turnovers of its own, including 15 in the first half.
“I thought we came out and played well offensively for about the first two minutes, but after that, it was a struggle for us,” MELHS coach Rob Stock said. “This is probably the worst offensive game we’ve played all year. Thankfully, our defense was there all night to bail us out.”
Granite City, in its last year in the Southwestern Conference, dropped to 1-14. The Warriors haven’t won a game since beating Madison 46-41 in the season opener on Nov. 28.
“When you hold a team to 21 points, you should win the game,” Stock said. “But there are so many things we have to get better at during the next week and a half before the regional.”
MELHS jumped out to an 11-2 lead on a rebound basket by junior Taylor Bradley with 4:29 remaining in the first quarter. Metro led 14-4 after one quarter despite eight turnovers.
“We had a lot of turnovers, but we had a lot of good looks when we needed them,” Schulte said. “Getting the early lead always gives us an advantage. It gets us pumped up.”
A rebound basket by Schulte gave the Knights a 23-12 lead at halftime.
MELHS scored the first eight points of the third quarter, pushing its biggest lead to 31-12 with 3:08 to play. During that span, Granite City missed six shots and committed a pair of turnovers.
Schulte led Metro with seven rebounds while Williams, Taylor and Stewart had five rebounds apiece.
A victory over Greenfield would put the Knights in the consolation championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday and give them a chance to finish the tournament on a winning note after losing the last two years in the consolation semifinals.
MELHS last won the consolation title in 2014.