By Jim Muir

The road to Bloomington-Normal will begin this week for Illinois high school girl’s basketball as regional tournament action begins statewide.

The Class 2A girl’s regional at Du Quoin will have definite Franklin County flavor with four-of-the-five teams – including the top four seeds – being county schools.

On Monday night No. 4 seed Zeigler-Royalton-Christopher will meet No. 5 seed Du Quoin for the right to advance to a semi-final matchup on Tuesday night against No. 1 seed Sesser-Valier-Waltonville. The Lady Red Devils sport a record of 24-3 and ran the table in the Black Diamond West with a perfect 10-0 record. The S-V-W game against the ZRC/Du Quoin winner will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

In the 8 p.m. contest on Tuesday night the No. 2 seed Benton Rangerettes (19-9) will square off for the third time this season with the No. 3 seed West Frankfort Lady Redbirds. Benton owns two regular season victories over West Frankfort, the last one a 54-40 victory on January 29.

The winners at Du Quoin on Tuesday night will meet on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the championship game and the right to advance to the West Frankfort Sectional Tournament next week.

The semi-final games on Tuesday and Thursday’s championship game will be broadcast on WQRL (106.3 and wqrlradio.com).

Along with the Du Quoin winner, regional champions from Murphysboro, Nashville and Wood River-East Alton will advance to Max Morris Gym in West Frankfort. The Nashville winner will play the Du Quoin regional winner and the Murphysboro regional winner and Wood River-East Alton winner will square off on Feb. 18 with the winners playing on Feb. 20 for the sectional title. The West Frankfort sectional winner will advance to the Salem Super Sectional on Feb. 24 to meet the winner of the Casey-Westfield sectional winner.

Proverbs 12:24

Would you characterize yourself as a hard worker in practice or as a lazy player?  What would your coach say?  How about your teammates?  Today’s scripture provides a warning for the lazy and a promise for the diligent.

Solomon wrote in Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 24, “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.”  Obviously none of us wants to labor like a slave, that is with no reward for our investment of time and energy.

The Proverb says that slave labor is the inevitable outcome of laziness.  Let’s be diligent in our work and we will reap the reward that comes with diligence … ruling.  Ruling means to have success and authority in our spheres of influence.

As you compete today, be diligent in your preparation and in the execution of your responsibilities.  Your diligence, concentration and hard work will result in your ruling.

 Washington, DC – Congressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15) voted for the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act (HR 3590) in the House on Wednesday.  This legislation combined a number of bills into one package that supports the rights of hunters and fishermen.

“The federal government has a tendency to over-regulate and get into our lives in ways it shouldn’t,” Shimkus said.  “This bipartisan bill dealt with traditional sportsmen’s issues and giving people recreational freedom.”

Some of the provisions include:

• reaffirms that fishing, hunting, and shooting are activities that should be allowed to continue or not be blocked on public lands operated by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

• protects Second Amendment rights on Army Corps of Engineers property.

• reiterates and clarifies existing law to protect lead bullets and tackles from increased costs due to federal regulation for hunters, sports shooters, and fishermen.

• grants Secretary of Interior authority to allow states to issue electronic duck stamps.

• declares recreational hunting and fishing as environmentally acceptable.

“While I am not aware of any specific issues in Illinois, you send me to Washington to protect your rights, and I support keeping publicly owned lands open to use by the people,” Shimkus added.

Groups supporting this legislation included Ducks Unlimited, National Rifle Association, Quail Forever, and Whitetails Unlimited among others.

The Morthland College Patriots evened their season record at 9-9 Wednesday night with a loipsided home win over St. Louis Concordia Seminary, 101-48.

Despite missing several key players, the Preachers of Concordia battled the entire game.  Every Morthland player scored to cruise to the runaway
victory.  Yavario Smith again led the Patriots with 26 tallies, driving the lane at will.  Murphysboro’s Hoston Gee had his first over- twenty
game with exactly 20, Will Carmickle chipped in 17, Roby Boatright 15 and Michael Smith hit on 11.  Murphysboro’s Jacob Stanton had a personal
season-high 13 rebounds. Morthland led 51-25 at the end of the first half, with both teams having an uncommon almost-identical second stanza.

The Patriots next play two road games this week-end, with a Friday night tilt against Crown College in Knoxville, TN, then driving across town for
a Saturday, Feb. 8th next day match-up with Johnson College, also in Knoxville.

INA, Ill. – In addition to picking up a win Monday night against Southeastern Illinois, the Rend Lake College Warriors also added two players to their 2014-2015 roster in the form of Perry Fairrow and Kourtlandt Martin, both of Evansville, Ind.

Fairrow is currently a senior at Benjamin Bosse High School, where he plays as a shooting guard. The 6-foot-1 inch guard is 8-4 this season with an average of 25.5 points per game. He is currently ranked 57 in high school athletes in Indiana. Fairrow is the son of Stacey M. Gold and Perry Fairrow Sr.

Martin is also a 6-foot-1 inch senior, from Evansville Central High School. He will join the Warriors as a point guard next fall. Currently, Martin’s record is 8-5 with 18.3 points scored per game. He is the son of Ka’Meelah Martin and is ranked 86 in Indiana.

Kourtland Martin

Perry Fairrow

BY JOHN D. HOMAN

Logan Media Services

CARTERVILLE – Freshman guard Martavian Payne, taken out of his starting role for the first time this season due to a previous shooting slump, responded in a big way with 19 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting stint from the field. That outburst included 5-of-5 baskets from long range to lead John A. Logan College to an 84-78 league win over visiting Kaskaskia.

Payne’s only hiccup was at the free-throw line, where he could only convert 2-of-5 tosses.

With the win, the Vols improve to 13-7 overall, 6-3 in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference and 9-3 in Region 24 play.

Logan head coach Kyle Smithpeters was pleased with Payne’s performance.

“It was good to see Martavian active and ready to shoot the basketball tonight. He’s a weapon. There’s not a spot on this floor he can’t hit a shot from. I’m glad he showed up to play tonight. He responded unbelievably well after a tough four-game span.”

Payne said he simply let the game come to him.
“I got open and let my teammates get the ball to me in transition,” he said. “I didn’t know I hadn’t missed a shot from the field. I just kept playing.”

Joining Payne in double figures were Darien Walker (17 points); DeVaughn Johnson (14) and Jay Johnson (14). Jordan Martin finished with eight points and would have reached double figures, but could only knock down 6-of-12 free tosses. A.J. Riley also collected eight points.

The Vols outrebounded the Blue Devils 39-to-29 with Walker grabbing 11 caroms.

Logan returns to action Wednesday at Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg for a 7:30 match.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Anthony Beane of Southern Illinois University and Bilquis Abdul-Qaadir of Indiana State University have been selected Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Week, Commissioner Doug Elgin announced today. Beane and Abdul-Qaadir were honored for their performances during the period of January 27-February 2.

Anthony Beane

Now in its 15th year of existence, The Valley’s Scholar-Athlete program honors its student-athletes for their athletic performance for a one-week period and academic success in the classroom.

Anthony Beane (6-2, 180, So.) had his best week in a Saluki uniform last week, averaging 24.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in wins over Indiana State and Loyola. He was 16-of-27 (.593) from the field and 14-of-15 (.933) from the line. He made the winning jumper in the overtime victory over the Ramblers. Beane holds a 3.20 grade-point average and his major is currently undecided.

Bilquis Abdul-Qaadir shined yet again for the Sycamores as she combined for 46 total points this weekend along with a combined 12 assists. Abdul-Qaadir crushed her previous career-high in points on Sunday with 32 against the Ramblers on the road. She went 10-for-20 from the field and made a career-high four 3-pointers and was 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.

Against Bradley, the Memphis transfer poured in 14 points and matched a career-high eight assists along with four rebounds and two steals. She is currently averaging 17.2 points per MVC contest and 14.4 points overall to lead the Sycamores in scoring. The Springfield, Mass. native shines in the classroom as well as she earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Memphis in 2013 with a 3.71 GPA. She’s currently enrolled in graduate school at Indiana State and holds a 3.5 GPA in Coaching.

To qualify for Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week laurels, student-athletes must carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20, completed at least one academic year at a Valley institution and must be at least a sophomore in academic standing.

Redshirt freshmen and first-year junior college transfers are not eligible. In addition to the academic qualifications, student-athletes will be evaluated on their athletic performance for a one-week period.