Southwestern Conference: Mid season update

As a follow up to our preseason predictions for each conference I will give a mid season update report. We will begin with the Southwestern conference. Our predicted MVP of the conference, <strong>Kaylah Rainey</strong> of Belleville East was diagnosed with a heart defect in her pre season physical. Kaylah had an open heart surgery to repair this issue.She currently looks to be well on her way to playing in college. There is an outside chance she could return late in the season but it is not likely. The current standings for the conference are as follows: <ul> <li>Edwardsville 4-0 and 15-2 overall</li> <li>Belleville East 4-1 and 8-8 overall</li> <li>Ofallon 3=1 and 12-3 overall</li> <li>Collinsville 2=2 and 7-5 overall</li> <li>East St Louis 2-3 and 6-10 overall</li> <li>Belleville West 0-4 and 7-9 overall</li> <li>Alton 0-4 and 4-9 overall</li> </ul> There are some games are coming up that will be key in determining the champion. Those games are listed below. Edwardsville @ Ofallon  1/4/19 Belleville East @ Edwardsville  1/22/19 Belleville East @ Ofallon  1/29/19 Ofallon @ Edwardsville  2/5/19 Edwardsville has dominated the conference in recent years. They are off to a good start again this year. The leadership of <strong>Que Love</strong> and <strong>Jaylen Townsend</strong> has been key to the success. They do still have a home and home left with O'Fallon. In the first game against Belleville East on the road Edwardsville won by 19. East St. Louis has played some difficult competition and is off to a slow start. They do have the talent to become a factor by pulling off a key victory. The Lady Flyers put together a late season run last year and still could do the same this year. Ofallon has used a very balanced attack to get off to a hot start. That makes them harder to defend as the points can come from Gordon, Bullock, Bell, Best, Schloer and even others on any given night. Belleville East also had a loaded early schedule that shows in their overall record. Coach Kemezys has had to change her lineup to account for Rainey being out. <strong>Nyah Ford</strong> has stepped into an unexpected role as the point guard and done well. Two players that have been possibly the best in the conference so far are also somewhat of a surprise. <strong>Bryce Dowell </strong>of Belleville  East has been a much bigger scorer than most would have expected. Dowell is averaging 18.9 points per game. She is shooting 53% from behind the 3 point line and 84% on free throws. Bryce is very fast with the ball in her hands and has a quick release on her shot. Bryce was one of the weapons returning for the Lady Lancers but has been THE weapon so far this year. <strong>Sydney Harris </strong>has lead Edwardsville in scoring so far this season. For many people this is no surprise as her talents have been obvious in middle school. Others may not have known or were not sure how her game would translate this early in her career. Sydney is a shooter and is hitting 45% of her 3's and over 76% from the free throw line. She has brought down 4.5 rebounds per game. Harris is a 6ft wing player that has really be the player to take big shots in tight games for Coach Blade. The conference will be decided in the second half as teams take their shot at Edwardsville. Coach Blade will have them prepared. Her girls will defend well and play hard. The rest of the Southwestern conference felt like this was a year to have a shot to pry the conference title away. Let the games be played and see if they can do it on the court! &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;