The Carbondale Mid-Winter Classic Varsity girls’ basketball tournament that was held from January 19-24 was hosted by Carbondale and Carterville High School. Cairo, Carbondale, Carterville, Cape Central, Marion, Massac County, Mt. Vernon, Pinckneyville, and Harrisburg high schools all participated in the tournament to try and win the trophy. The tournament featured multiple close games and showed strong performances from these teams.
The closest game was Marion against Mt. Vernon on January 22 at Carterville. In that well-fought game, Carleigh Midgett from Marion had 25 points and 16 rebounds. Ny’Aajha Curry, also from Marion, had 21 points. The key player for Mt. Vernon in that game was Laniya Shelby, with 31 points. It was a well fought game, but Marion came out on top with the win 71-70.
During the tournament, there were two people who reached the milestone of 1,000 career points. That milestone is a big part of their high school careers. Both of these took place on January 23. In the early morning game, Abby Keith from Pinckneyville reached that milestone, though Pinckneyville still lost to Mt. Vernon 65-43. The other was achieved in the championship game by Libby Garrett of Marion. The Championship game was the second closest game, with Marion beating Carbondale 63-60. Dalia Roman, from Carbondale, scored 25 of their 60 points. The All Tournament team is MVP – Carleigh Midgett, from Marion, Ny’Aajha Curry from Marion, Dalia Roman from Carbondale, Rylee McElveen from Carbondale, Kendall Cleland from Pinckneyville, and La’Niyah Shelby from Mt. Vernon.
Carterville went 1-1 in the tournament. In the first game, they lost to Mt .Vernon 35-63. In the second game, they played Cairo and won 56-13. This updates their overall record to 10-12. “Teamwork best describes Carterville girls Basketball season because of the contest hard work and building we do together and the ability to rely on each other to grow personally and as a team,” junior Addy Sykes said.
With close games and standout performances, the Mid-Winter Classic proved to be a memorable event for players and fans.
