Mount Zion defeats Mahomet-Seymour in first Apollo Conference game

By Fred Kroner

Reese Gallier and Kylie Waldinger each scored 10 points on Friday (Dec. 1) for the Mahomet-Seymour girls’ basketball team, which dropped a 59-38 decision at home to Mount Zion in its first Apollo Conference contest of the year.

For Gallier, it was her fifth straight game scoring in double figures.

The Bulldogs fell behind, 29-14, at halftime but connected on four three-point shots in the third quarter, including two by Gallier (who had all of her points in the final two quarters) and one apiece by Selah Campion and Sidney Young.

Campion finished with eight points. Young totaled five, Ellie Dallas scored three points and Grace Binkley added two points.

Mount Zion’s Denver Anderson, who has signed with Southern Utah, amassed a game-high 31 points. She scored her first three points three seconds into the game.

“Mount Zion might be the best team we’ve played so far,” M-S coach Tom Garriott said. “No. 34 (Anderson) can play.

“Our plan was to keep her out of the paint. We did for a little bit and then got away from it.”

The youthful Bulldog roster features just one senior (Young).

“We knew we would have some growing pains,” Garriott said. “When we attack the rim and focus for 32 minutes, we’re pretty good. We’ll get there.”

Before Friday, the first four M-S losses were all by margins of 11 points, or less.

“We could have been 7-0 (before the Mount Zion game),” Garriott added. “This is the only one that was out of reach in the fourth quarter.

“We’re undersized most games, but we play hard, battle and never give up.”

A basket by Campion with 5:11 left in the opening quarter lifted M-S into a 4-3 lead. The Braves then went on an 8-0 run over the next 4 minutes and never trailed thereafter.

M-S (3-5) returns to action on Tuesday (Dec. 5) at home against Peoria Notre Dame.