South Central conference: Mid season update

As a follow up to our preseason predictions for each conference I will give a mid season update report. Next we will cover the South Central Conference. In the first half of the season there have been two very important wins for league leader Hillsboro. The Lady Toppers went on the road and pulled out a 1 point victory against Carlinville and beat Greenville at home by 9. These are two of their tougher games in the conference so it gives them a definite leg up. Here are the current standings: Hillsboro 4-0   15-3 overall Greenville 2-1  15-1 overall Carlinville 2-1   13-1 overall Piasa  2-1    14-3 overall Staunton 3-1   12-5 overall Pana   1-2   11-5 overall Gillespie 1-2   7-9 overall Litchfield  1-2    5-11 overall Vandalia   0-2   2-12 overall Roxana  0-4    3-10 overall &nbsp; Some of the key games left on the schedule are as follows: 1/3 Pisa at Carlinville ( Carlinville 36-31) 1/5 Staunton ar Carlinville 1/26 Greenville at Staunton 1/31 Carlinville at Greenville 1/31 Hillsboro at Piasa &nbsp; Hillsboro has been able to out themselves in a prime position to win this conference. <strong>Sammi Matoush</strong> as expected has led the team with her all around play. Matoush has been a 2 All State selection. She has continued to score over 25 points per game while also rebounding and sharing the ball. <strong>Kylie Meier</strong> has been a huge threat from the 3 point line when teams concentrate too much on Matoush. <strong>Aubry Rupert </strong>has also continued to be an excellent second/third option when teams give their attention to Matoush. Ruppert is a strong girl that can finish inside but also has the ability to knock down the 3. Greenville has only lost the one game to Hillsboro but they need some help to be able to win or tie for the conference title. Junior post <strong>Megan Halleman</strong> is really coming on for the Lady Comets. She is averaging 13.4 points per game to lead the team. She is followed closely by <strong>Nancy Fritzsche</strong> at 11.2, <strong>Rylee Pickett</strong> at 10.4 and <strong>Ally Cantrill</strong> at 9.4. Carlinville also has used a very balanced attack to get their season off to a great start. <strong>Rachel Olroyd</strong> is leading the team with 11.6 points per game. <strong>Corrine Stewart</strong> is scoring 9.6 per game and <strong>Jill Stayton</strong> 7.2. With <strong>Gracie Reels</strong> also at 6.5 the Lady Cavaliers have many options that will contribute each night. They will pressure you and play tough defense in the half court. Many teams cannot handle that and turn the ball over which leads to many easy baskets for them. Once the season is done the top teams will get immediately go back into battle in the playoffs. Carlinville, Gillespie, Greenville, Hillsboro, Litchfield, Piasa, Staunton and Vandalia are all in the one 2A sub sectional. Staunton and Pisa will host Regionals and Hillsboro hosts the Sectional. So, someone that gets hot at the end of the season could be making a run to the Super Sectional with the advantage of familiar gyms and teams in the way. Alton Marquette is the only team with a winning record in the Sub Sectional that is not a South Central conference team. This is a very talented conference that will be fun to watch the rest of the year. There are extremely talented individual players on teams that could be poised to make a run come tournament time.