MCS Lion Athletics

RECENT NEWS FROM LION ATHLETICS Year End Banquet
(2/28) The Lady Lions basketball program celebrated their season with a year end banquet on Monday Feb 28th. During the banquet Coach Moore and Coach Silvey recognized the contributions of all the Lady Lions and presented each player with an award. Also during the banquet, varsity team awards were presented for MVP, Most Improved, and Best Defense. The winners of these awards were as follows: MVP: Makenzie Silvey, Best Defense: Suze Jezek, and Most Improved: Jillian Combs.

Lorren Walther wins free throw contest
(2/27) For the second year in a row, 6th grader Lorren Walther won the free throw contest at the Breese 3 on 3 Tournament.

Lady Lions finish season with victory
(1/21) The 7th grade Lady Lions finished their 2010-2011 campaign with a 30-8 victory at Good Shepherd. The Lady Lions came out a little flat-footed, and fell behind 4-2, but finished the 1st quarter on a 6-0 run to end the quarter up 8-4. This run continued in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, by holding the Chargers scoreless in each frame, which resulted in a 27-4 lead after 3 quarters. The final ended up 30-8, and ran the 7th grade teams overall record to 12-5 on the year. In all 6 players scored for the Lady Lions, being lead by 6th grader Suze Jezek. Jezek, a 2nd year player, scored 13 points on the evening. Makenzie Silvey added 8, Tori Perez 4, Jill Combs & Alana Moore 2 each and Adri Ferguson 1 point.

In the 6th grade game, played right prior to the 7th grade game, the Lady Lions jumpled out to a 14-1 1st quarter margin and never looked back as they cruised to a 41-8 victory. All 7 players for the Lady Lions scored, and they were lead by a career high from Lorren Walther. Walther, a guard, scored 12 points and was followed by Makenzie Silvey (8), Suze Jezek (6), Deb Mayfield (5), Addie Moore & Tori Perez (4 each) and 4th grader Megan Silvey (2). The victory finished a very successful season by the 6th grade team. The 6th grade Lady Lions finished up 14-4, with the sum of the 4 losses totaling 8 points.

7th Lady Lions win on road
(1/18/11) The 7th grade Lady Lions ran their record to 11-5 with a victory at Trinity Lutheran by the score of 30-18. Trinity Lutheran, who lost at MCS on Nov 22 26-20, sat their starters for 3/4 of the game. "Yes, I was aware of that and I'm not sure of why they didn't play. We can't control that, and I am glad we came out of their with a victory. It is a tough place to play." The Lady Lions were lead by Makenzie Silvey's 11 points and also received contributions from Alana Moore (5), Lorren Walther & Tori Perez (4 each), Jill Combs (3), Adri Ferguson (2), and Suze Jezek (1). The Lady Lions conclude their season as they visit Good Shepherd on Friday evening.

4th Lady Lions win 3rd Place at SJN Tournament
(1/15/11) The 4th grade Lady Lions, playing their 2nd game in a little over 12 hours, found the rims of SJN to their liking this time around. Playing in the semi's the Lady Lions couldn't buy a bucket, but today the shots were falling and the Lady Lions rolled to a victory over SSPP by a score of 29-5. "Yes, today we got some early buckets to fall and it seemed to give the girls the confidence boost they needed. It was nice to see us play well today. What makes this real enjoyable is that we had (2) 3rd graders, (1) 2nd grader, and (1) 1st grader on the roster. I'm not sure, but I'd suspect all three of the teams we played would have had all 4th graders, so to win 3rd place with such a young team was nice. We only had one player on the 5th grade team, so most of these girls played on the 5th grade team so I am sure that helped out with this tournament." 4th Grader Megan Silvey, who sat out all but two minutes of the 2nd half, lead the Lions in scoring with 10 points. 3rd grader Maggie Karraker scored 6 points, (4th) Kierra West and 1st Grader Macy Silvey added 4 points a piece. Rounding out the scoring was (4th) Kaytlynn Stevenson with 3 and (3rd) Madison Blanton with 2 points.

4th Lady Lions fall to Holy Family in Semi's
(1/14/11) For the second time in three meetings the Lady Hawks, of Holy Family, came away victorious against the Lady Lions winning 12-9. This time it was a hard fought, low scoring game that sends the Lady Lions to the 3rd place game against SSPP. "We had a lot of shots tonight, it was like there was a lid on the basket. Some nights you are going to have that, and it happened to be this evening" stated Coach Silvey. Megan Silvey lead the Lady Lions with 7 points and 3rd grader Madison Blanton added the other 2 points. The Lady Lions have a short turn around as they play for 3rd/4th place Saturday morning at 11am.

4th Lady Lions open up SJN tour with win
(1/12/11) The 4th grade Lady Lions opened up the annual St. John Neumann 4th grade tournament with a victory against St. Boniface (Edwardsville) by a final score of 24-11. "I thought we played pretty well", stated Coach Silvey. "We haven't played in almost a month and I thought we would be rusty, but fortunately we weren't." The win propels the 4th grade Lady Lions into the semi's and they will meet Holy Family on Friday evening at 8pm. This will be the 3rd matchup between the teams this year with each team winning one game. 4th Grader Megan Silvey lead the Lions with 12 points, 3rd grader Madison Blanton contributed 6 points, Kierra West (4th), Maggie Karraker (3rd) and Anja Mills (2nd) each added two points.

Lady Lions fall to ASA in opening round of SIJHSAA Regionals
(1/11/11) The Lady Lions fell to All Saints Academy, out of Breese, by a score of 39-19 in the opening round of the Germantown regional this evening. The Lady Lions, playing against their first 8th grade team, came out very timid in the first half. "Coach Moore and I were hopeful that we wouldn't play timid, but we did, and conversely we fell behind 18-4 at halftime. We told the girls at halftime that we couldn't let their age intimidate us, and that we had to continue to play hard. We knew it would be difficult to come back by 14, but we played hard the second half and we got some results that we can build on." "At one point in the second half we had outscored ASA 12-11, which is a great building block for our girls." "Mike and I knew this would be a challenge, playing an all 8th grade team, but we wanted the girls to get regional game experience so they have a reference point when we come back next year." Makenzie Silvey lead the Lady Lions with 11 points, Suze Jezek added 4, Lorren Walther 2, and Jill combs & Deb Mayfield each added one.

4th grade Lady Lions open up tournament play Wednesday evening
(1/10/11) The 4th grade Lady Lions open up play in the annual Saint John Neumann 4th grade tournament with an opening round matchup against Saint Boniface out of Edwardsville. The tip time is set for 7pm.

2 Lady Lions win Elks Hoop Shoot Division, advance to Districts
(12/11) Lorren Walther (12-13 year old division) and Megan Silvey (9 year old division) each won their respective age brackets of the local Elks Hoop Shoot Free Throw contest on Dec 11th. The win advances each girl to district competition, which will be held on Jan 29th in Jacksonville, IL. Walther, a 6th grader, made 6-10 in the first round and 12-15 in the second round to advance by one over fellow teammate Makenzie Silvey. Silvey, also a 6th grader, made 6-10 and 11-15 to finish in second place.

6th Grade fall in Semi's in Greenville Tournament
(12/18) The 6th grade Lady Lions made it through to the semi-finals, but fell by a score of 24-23 to the Bethalto Eagles. To get through to the Semi's the Lady Lions defeated Triad 39-10 and Hillsboro 36-4, which set up the final game of pool play against undefeated Mt. Olive. Mt. Olive jumped out to a 12-2 lead at halftime but the Lady Lions fought back but fell short by a score of 16-14. "It was a very, very physical game. Personal fouls were not tracked, but if they were I feel the outcome would have been different. Three of their starters would have fouled out and that would have changed the entire complex of the game. We started out very flat, but we played very well in the second half and had a chance to win." When asked if he knew that personal fouls weren't being tracked, "No, I was not aware that personal fouls weren't going to be tracked until after the tournament started." To get to the semi's, the Lady Lions faced Edwardsville Elite and beat them 26-18, which set up a rematch of a game with Bethalto. The Lady Lions had beat Bethalto by 30 points just 18 days earlier, but lost 24-23 this time. "I knew it would be a very tough game. We couldn't have played any better in that first game. Could we have won, sure, but we didn't get it done in the end. We don't have a deep bench and when we lost to Mt. Olive, and had to come back through as the #2 seed, I knew it would be very difficult. We are proud of our results considering this was a "select" tournament and we are a small private school.

6th Grade to travel to Greenville College for tournament
(12/1) The 6th grade Lady Lions will be traveling to Greenville College on Dec 16th & Dec 18th to participate in the Greenville College / St. Lawrence Church girls Holiday tournament. The Lady Lions will open up play on Thursday the 16th at 6:45 against the Triad Knights. They will then play a second game against Hillsboro at 8:15pm. On Saturday they will play Mt. Olive at 9:45am and will then wait to see who they will play in the semi-finals at 11:15 am. If they were to advance to the finals it would be played at 12:45pm. "I wanted to get into this tournament because we will get to see teams that we normally would never get to play. The only team that I know anything about is Mt. Olive, and I know they are pretty good. I saw them play in the finals of a tournament hosted by Roxanna last February. Triad is only a couple of miles from our school, so that should be a good game and I would assume that Hillsboro will be solid as well. It should be a lot of fun." stated Coach Silvey.

6th Grade play well, defeat Bethalto Trimpe
(11/30) The 6th grade Lady Lions, playing their second game in two nights, put together their best performance of the year by defeating Bethalto Trimpe by a score of 45-15. "Yes, we played very well" stated Coach Silvey. The Lady Lions fell behind immediately after the opening tip 2-0, but then scored the next 28 points to take a commanding 28-2 lead, and would eventually be leading at halftime by a score of 32-4. After Bethalto took the quick lead the Lady Lions came right back down the floor and got a quick bucket by Suze Jezek. "This allowed us to get into our full court press and create a lot of pressure. The pressure also limited Bethalto from getting into their 1/2 court set, or from allowing them to get out on the fast break." stated Coach Silvey. "We also shot very well. We don't keep track of our shots, but I bet we shot 60-70% from the field in the first half." Leading the charge in the first half was Makenzie Silvey. Silvey put on a shooting display in the first half that you normally wouldn't see at this age. Silvey hit a pair of jumpers and then hit a 3 pointer to go along with 4 points from Jezek, 2 from Addie Moore and 2 from 4th grader Megan Silvey to take a 15-2 lead after the first quarter. "Coach Moore and I stressed that Bethalto was a very good team and that they would continue to play hard and we had to continue to exectute to win this game. The girls took this to heart and came out just as strong in the 2nd quarter." The hot hand from Silvey continued as she tallied 13 more points in the 2nd quarter. She hit 2 more 3-pointers as well as 3 more buckets to go with a free throw to bring her total at half to 20 points. Also scoring 4 points in the 2nd quarter was Suze Jezek to build the Lady Lions lead to 32-4 at half. "Coach Moore and I told the girls that we wanted to win the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter and to not look at the scoreboard. I felt comfortable with our lead so we pulled the press back and we worked on our half court sets in the 2nd half. We treated the 2nd half as an organzied practice against a good team and were pleased with our work." Silvey, who was 4-4 from 3 point land, hit another 3 pointer and added another bucket in the 3rd to bring her total to 25 points. The Lady Lions also received buckets from center Tori Perez and another bucket from Megan Silvey to take a lead of 41-12 after 3 periods of play. In the 4th quarter the Lady Lions added 4 more points by Suze Jezek and went on to eventually win by a score of 45-15. "We told the girls that they won the 3rd & 4th quarters, just like we asked. At this age when you are up by quite a few points you will sometimes see the girls not try as hard. We did not want that and the girls didn't do that. Mike & I couldn't be more proud of them." The 6th grade Lady Lions ran their record to 7-2 and our off until they travel to the St. Claire Knights on Dec 14th.

6th Grade Lady Lions get win after long break
(11/29) The 6th grade Lady Lions got a win Monday evening after a 17 day break against the visiting Holy Family Hawks. The Lady Lions started off cold from the field by only scoring 6 points in the first quarter, but got on track in the 2nd quarter by scoring 16 points to take a 22-4 halftime lead. "I think one of the keys was holding them scoreless in the first quarter. This kept us from digging a hole and allowed us time to get our offense into the flow, which it did in the 2nd quarter." stated Coach Silvey. The Lady Lions continued to play tough defense in the 3rd quarter by only allowing 2 points, while scoring 4 themselves. In the 4th quarter the Lady Lions scored 12 more points and rolled to a 38-10 win. Suze Jezek, a small forward, led the Lady Lions with 14 points while Makenzie Silvey added 12 and her 4th grade sister, Megan, contributed 8. Lorren Walther & Deb Mayfield each added 2 points each.

7th Grade Lady Lions get 2nd win in two nights
(11/23) The 7th grade Lady Lions won on back to back nights as they defeated the Hornets of SS Peter & Paul by a score of 21-15. The Lady Lions came out slow and fell behind early by a score of 6-0. "SSPP won the tip, made one pass and converted the layup without dribbling. It was pretty to watch" stated Coach Silvey. After trailing 6-0 the Lady Lions got a bucket from 7th grader Alana Moore, but SSPP answered right back. A bucket by Makenzie Silvey cut the lead to 8-4 after the first period of play. "We were playing sloppy, but fortunately for us SSPP wasn't converting so it kept us in the game." The Lady Lions held the Lady Hornets to 4 points in the 2nd quarter, but only scored 5 points so they trailed 12-9 at halftime. "I told the girls at halftime that we needed to continue to put pressure on the ball and try to get some easy buckets. The easy buckets didn't come, but our pressure kept them from scoring in the 3rd quarter." The Lady Lions were able to capitalize by scoring 5 points in the quarter with a pair of buckets from Lorren Walther and a free throw from Tori Perez. This put the Lady Lions in front for the first time by a score of 14-12 after three. "Going into the 4th quarter I wanted to keep the pressure on with the press because we were having success with it." "It worked as we were able to limit them to just three points in the 4th quarter. I'd be naive to think that just our defense kept them to these low scoring figures. SSPP missed a lot of close range jumpers and we were able to limit their second chances." The Lady Lions didn't score a bucket in the 4th quarter but were able to go 7-11 from the free throw line to secure the win. "Free throws have been a hinderance thus far this year, but I have to give credit to the girls as they knocked them down when it mattered. Lorren hit two in a row, Alana hit two out of three, Makenzie made two and Suze added another. Coach Moore and I were well pleased with our free throws this evening. It was the difference in the game. 9 of our 21 points were from the charity stripe." Overall they were 9-16 from the free throw line. Sixth grader Lorren Walther scored a career high 9 points in leading the Lady Lions to the victory. Alana Moore & Makenzie Silvey each added 4 points a piece, Tori Perez added 3 off the bench and Suze Jezek added 1. The 7th grade Lady Lions have a 13 day break until they take on SSPP again on December 6th.

7th Grade Lady Lions get back on winning track
(11/22) The 7th grade Lady Lions got back on the winning track with a 26-20 victory over Trinity Lutheran Edwardsville on Monday evening. The Lady Lions got off to a quick start with a fast break layup right off the tip by Suze Jezek and short jumper by Jezek a minute later. Trinity battled back to take a 6-5 lead after the first quarter, but the Lady Lions defense were able to keep the Lady Eagle scoreless in the 2nd quarter to take a 11-6 lead at halftime. The Lady Lions kept the pressure on in the 3rd quarter with Makenzie Silvey scoring 8 points and Lorren Walther adding 2 more to extend the lead to 21-10 after 3. The Lady Lions went on to win by a final score of 26-20. "We saw some improvement tonight in our rebounding. Trinity, like most teams we play, had the height advantage but I thought we did a good job of blocking out. Jillian Combs also did a great job on their big post player Kayla Johnson. Kayla was held scoreless in the first half and that was a big key. She is tall and skilled so I thought stopping her was a key to the game." Makenzie Silvey lead the Lions with 18 points with Lorren Walther and Suze Jezek each adding 4. The Lady Lions have a short turn around time as they host SS Peter & Paul on Tuesday evening. "It will be a tough game, they are very good." concluded the coach.

7th Grade Lady Lions lose in OT for Consolation Championship
(11/20) The 7th grade Lady Lions lost in overtime to Trinity Lutheran Centralia by a score of 31-29. THe Lady Lions started out very slow, falling behind the taller Lady Royals by the score of 8-2 after one period of play. In the second quarter the Lady Lions turned it around behind the hot shooting of 6th grader Makenzie Silvey. Silvey, who scored two points in the first quarter, tallied a variety of jumpers in the second quarter. She made four 2-point buckets and one 3 pointer to total 11 points in the quarter to bring the Lady Lions to within one at half (14-13). "Coach Moore noticed that they went to a Box in One in the second quarter, so coming out in the second half we expected that it would continue" stated Coach Silvey. "We made some minor adjustments at halftime and told the girls what to expect in the second half. Everything we thought Trinity would do, in regards to the Box in One, they did, but the one thing they changed was that they put their biggest most athletic girl against her." In the second half Silvey's hot shooting continued as she hit another 3 pointer and two more buckets to put the Lady Lions up by a score of 22-18 at the end of three periods of play. "They set it up where our other starters had opportunities to contribute, but unfortunately their shots didn't fall" We probabaly had a dozen shots either uncontested or partially contested under the bucket and we didn't capitalize. If we make a few of those shots that would have extended our lead to 8 or 10, and with our defense I'm not sure if the Lady Royals would have been able to come back. But, unfortunately for us, that wasn't going to be the case." Going into the 4th quarter the Lady Lions continued to put pressure on the ball, but were not able to get key defensive rebounds as the Lady Royals scored time and time again on offensive putbacks. "Our rebounding has not been good and today it cost us the game. Sure, we missed a lot of shots, but if they don't score on all of those offensive putbacks we still win." Makenzie Silvey added six more points in the 4th quarter, but the Lady Lions just couldn't put away Trinity. Up by two with 5.4 seconds left the Lady Lions fouled Kelly Sager on a drive to the basket sending the 7th grader to the line. Sager, who tallied 19 points in the win, calmly sank both free throws to tie the game at 28 at the end of regulation. "Going into overtime I felt we still had the advantage. This was only their third game and I felt like our pressure was wearing them down. As a matter of fact, we had several steals in the OT, but we didn't make our lay ups. Watching that was very frustrating." In the overtime Trinity's Sager scored all three points while the Lady Lions only got a made free throw from Silvey. Silvey ended the game with a game high 27 points, while Jillian Combs added the other two. The Lady Lions have a quick turn around as they host Trinity Lutheran on Monday the 22nd and SS Peter & Paul on Tuesday the 23rd.

7th Grade Lady Lions to play for Consolation Championship
(11/19) The 7th grade Lady Lions will be playing for the Consolation Championship at the Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School tournament after beating Rome grade school on Thursday evening 41-18. The Lady Lions came back strong after losing their opening round game to Zion Belleville 41-31. The Lady Lions will play Saturday at 2:15pm.

6th Grade Lady Lions win tight game in opening round
(11/3) The 6th grade Lady Lions won a nail-biter in the opening round of the Holy Family Tour Wednesday night by a score of 25-24 over St. Paul Highland. "I knew this was going to be a very, very tough game", stated Coach Silvey. "I know several of their girls from AAU ball and I knew it would come down to the wire, which it did. It's too bad that we had to play them in the first round of the tournament. I would expect them to go on to win the consolation championship later this weekend." "This team reminds me a lot of what Coach Moore and I try to accomplish with our girls. They are not very tall, but they play very aggressive man to man and try to get the ball up the floor. We play them again on Nov 12th and I would expect another very close game. I'm just happy to get out of here with a win." MCS, which never trailed in the game, opened up a lead of as many as 8 points two different times during the game, but the Lady Vikings kept fighting their way back. MCS lead 8-4 after 1, 16-12 at half, 21-18 after 3 and ended up winning by a score of 25-24. Makenzie Silvey lead the Lady Lions with 11 points with Suze Jezek adding 10. Lorren Walther and Tori Perez each added two points a piece. The Lady Lions will be playing in the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon at 2:30.

7th Grade Lady Lions suffer first defeat of year
(10/28) The 7th grade Lady Lions was handed their first defeat of the season at Wesclin Junior High on Thursday evening by a score of 40-35. At an obvious height disadvantage, "I felt like we started out very, very intimidated" stated Coach Silvey. After falling behind 10-2 Coach Silvey took a timeout and told the girls that we have never been the tallest team, and probably never will be, but we can't be intimidated and we have to play our game. The reference to the height is that Wesclin had 4 girls that were equal to or taller than our tallest girl. "Sure, it makes a difference, but we can't let that be an excuse not to execute". Even after the timeout Wesclin raced out to a 13 point halftime lead (24-11). Coach Moore and I made some minor changes at halftime and we challenged the girls to pick up the defensive pressure in the second half. "I knew that we had to create a lot of turnovers to get back in the game, so we had to force the play and the girls responded." MCS outscored the Lady Warriors 12-6 in the 3rd quarter to cut the lead to 30-23. "We never gave up all night and we are proud of the girls." Trailing by 7 going into the 4th quarter the Lions continued to try and claw their way back into the game, but just couldn't catch up losing by a score of 40-35. "Wesclin is a good team, they are tall and they owned the boards. They also did a very good job of getting out on the fast break after they secured the rebounds. Overall, I'm proud of the girls and their fight. This game will give Coach Moore and I an idea of what we really need to focus on in practice." 6th grader Makenzie Silvey lead the scoring with 19 points, including 3 three pointer. Lorren Walther, also a 6th grader, added 6 points off the bench, with Suze Jezek & Alana Moore contributing 4 each and Tori Perez adding 2 points. The Lady Warriors were lead by Kate Jokischs' 19 points. "I know Kate and I knew she would be tough to defend. She was very good this evening around the basket." The 7th grade team is off until Friday Nov 5th when they host cross town school, St. John Neumann.

Lady Lions win 2nd game in 2 nights
(10/26) The 7th grade Lady Lions won their second game in two nights with a home victory over visiting Holy Family. The Lady Lions overcame a huge night by Holy Families Andria Pace's 28 points by using a tough man to man defense and press to create some easy transition points. "We created a lot of turnovers with our pressure defense and that was a big factor in our win this evening. More important than just creating the turnovers was the fact that we actually converted them into baskets. We have been struggling with some of our open lay-ups, so I'm pleased that we made several of these." 6th grader Makenzie Silvey lead the Lady Lions with a career high 21 points. Suze Jezek, also a 6th grader, scored 17 points in the win. Lorren Walther (3), Alana Moore (2), and Tori Perez (1) also contributed to the scoring.

In the preceeding 4th grade game, the 4th grade Lady Lions also came away with a victory over Holy Family by a score of 16-8. "This was our first 4th grade only game, so it was nice to see the girls get a win. These girls have to play on the 5th grade team since we have limited numbers at the 5th grade level." Megan Silvey lead all scorers with 10 points and Madison Blanton (3rd grader) added 4 points and Kierra West added 2. "It was exciting to see Madison & Kierra score their first buckets of the year. I think they were excited" concluded the coach.

Lady Lions go on road & win 2 "Nail-Biters"
(10/25) The 6th grade Lady Lions went on the road on Friday Oct 22nd to win by two points at Aviston. "This was a great win for us. Aviston was 8-3 and this was our first 6th grade game. We didn't play well, just well enough to win." stated Coach Silvey

On Monday Oct 25th the 7th grade team went on the road to Pocahontas and won by a score of 28-27. "Pocahontas is a good team. Their press and pressure man to man forced us into 27 turnovers, but we did just enough to win this game. We made 7-13 free throws and that was the difference. It was back and forth the entire 2nd half and we were fortunate to have come out of here with a win."

7th Grade Lady Lions open up with win
(10/19) The 7th Grade Lady Lions opened up their 2010-2011 campaign with a win against visiting FBA O'Fallon. The Lions won the game by a score of 43-14 and received points from several players. 6th grader Makenzie Silvey lead all scorers with a career high 20 points. 7th grader Alana Moore added 8, 6th graders Suze Jezek 8, Tori Perez 2, Addie Moore 2 and 7th grader Adrinnah Ferguson 1. "It is always good to start the season with a win" stated Coach Silvey. However, there are several areas that we need to focus on over the next few practices. "Sure, we played well, but all coaches look for areas of improvement to get to the level that Coach Moore & I will want these girls to be at." The 7th grade team has a few days off before they travel to Pocahontas for a game on Monday the 25th.

>Lady Lions Coach looks forward to challenging schedule
(9/25) With the start of the season a little over three weeks away, Lady Lions coach Jeff Silvey knows that the coaching staff must have the girls prepared for a challenging schedule. "This is definitely a difficult schedule for our girls, but it will be good for them." It will not take too long to see what this years team will have as the 6th grade team starts out in Aviston facing the Eagles. "Aviston's 8th grade team won the Class M state title last year, so you know that program knows how to develop young players. We played in Aviston last year and they beat us by one point, 15-14. That was our first game of the year and we were playing without one of our starters, Suze Jezek, so I am expecting a good game. This is a Friday night game then we travel to Pocahontas to play Pocahontas on Monday night, then on Thursday night we travel back to Clinton County to play the Wesclin Warriors." "These are two new teams that have been added to the schedule so I don't know anything about Pocahontas, and the only thing that I know about Wesclin is that they have a really good player by the name of Kate. Besides that I have not seen either of these teams play. Besides Pocahontas and Wesclin, other new teams to appear on the schedule are the Highland Lady Bullpups, in regular season play, and the 7th grade team will be traveling to Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School Tournament in November. Some teams expected to appear there are Trinity Lutheran Centralia (runner up three years running in Class S), Bartelso (back to back Class S champs), Sandoval, & Germantown (annual Clinton County power) to name a few. On the 6th grade side Coach Silvey will most likely be taking the girls to the annual Greenville College Christmas Tournament. Last years participants included Edwardsville Elite (Champs), Triad Knights (Runner-up), Bethalto, O'Fallon, Breese, & Mt. Olive to name a few. "Yes, that tournament would be loaded as well. Even though we are a small private school, I feel that we have the players to compete in these tournaments. Most of those teams do not have room to schedule us during the regular season, so this would be our only opportunity to play them. It will be exciting to see how we do against schools much, much larger, or in some cases "select" teams. Once the season starts, it will fly by as we have three seperate teams competing this year. Between the three teams we will play approximately 45 games.

Lady Lions to travel to Salem
(5/17/10) The Lady Lions basketball team will be traveling to Salem, IL for a summer shootout June 11th, 12th, & 13th. The Lady Lions have entered their 5th grade team and also their 6th grade team. The 5th grade players that will comprise the roster are: Suze Jezek, Deb Mayfield, Addie Moore, Tori Perez, Lorren Walther (all 5th graders), Megan Silvey & Kailen Walther (each 3rd graders). The 6th grade team will have Alana Moore (6th grader) Makenzie Silvey (5th grader) and then some players from other neighboring schools. Head coach Jeff Silvey stated that he didn't want his lone 6th grader, Alana Moore, to miss out on this experience so he went out and asked some other area players to fill out our roster. "Alana doesn't need to be punished as our lone 6th grader. If I didn't ask other local players then Alana would have been on the sidelines watching. I did not want that to be the case."

Please check back soon to see our schedule of game times once they are assigned.

Lady Lions perform well in Free Throw contest - Lorren Walther wins her division
(3/1/10) Six members of the Lady Lions competed in the ASA free throw contest, at the 3v3 tournament Feb 26-28, and had four of these contestants advance to the finals with Lorren Walther winning the 5th grade division. The format was set up to see how many free throws could be made in 45 seconds and Lorren Walther made 12 free throws to win her division stated Coach Silvey. Other Lady Lions advancing to the finals were: Megan Silvey & Kailen Walther, each 3rd graders, in the 4th grade division, Lorren Walther in the 5th grade division, and Makenzie Silvey in the 6th grade division. "We were well represented and I am very proud of these girls. Not only is this a victory for Lorren, but it is also a victory for all of the members of the Lady Lions program. Anytime the hard work that these girls put in shows up in success, this will provide motivation to all the members of the Lady Lions program.

10 Members of Lady Lions particpate in 3 on 3 Tournament
(3/1/10) 10 members of the Lady Lions basketball team participated in the Breese All-Saints Academy 3 on 3 challenge druing the weekend of Feb 26, 27, & 28th. The primary goal for the 3 on 3 was to have fun and to keep the girls involved with a basketball in their hands, stated Coach Silvey, but we actually performed quite nicely. Our 6th grade team consisted of 6th grader Alana Moore, 5th grader Makenzie Silvey, and Sophie Thompson from SJN. These girls finished 2-1, losing in the semi's to the eventual tournament champion. Our 5th grade team consisted of all 5th graders Addie Moore, Suze Jezek, Tori Perez, and Lorren Walther. After losing their first game to Triad they won their last two and finished 2-1 as well. Our 4th grade team was represented by 4th graders Allie Cochran & Jade Hutt as well as 3rd graders Megan Silvey and Kailen Walther. These girls won their first game, but then was just not tall enough to compete with the other teams and ended up with a record of 1-4. Overall, I am pleased with the way the weekend turned out and would like to make this an annual event for our girls."

2009-2010 Comes to a Close
(1/22/10) The 2009-2010 Lady Lions basketball season finished on a high note as the 6th grade team defeated Good Shepherd by a score of 35-2 here on Friday evening. MCS jumped out to a quick 12-0 first quarter lead from the strength of some steals and easy lay ups by Makenzie Silvey. Silvey, who had 16 on the night, scored 10 of her points in the first quarter. MCS was never challenged and cruised to a season ending victory. Silvey lead the Lady Lions with 16 points, but MCS also received contributions from Suze Jezek (12 pts), Tori Perez (5 pts) and their lone 6th grader Alana Moore chipped in with 2 points. The 6th grade Lady Lions, playing with only one 6th grader (Alana Moore) finished the season at 9-9. "It was a season of streaks" quoted Coach Silvey. "We started out with 4 straight losses, then we won 8 out of 9, then lost 4 straight before finishing this evening with a win."

4th Grade Lady Lions win Consolation Championship
(1/16/10) The Lady Lions 4th grade team took home the Consoliation Championshiop trophy with an 11-7 win over Triad. The Lady Lions, who never trailed during the game, opened up an 11-3 lead over Triad with 3:30 to play in the 4th quarter. But Triad didn't give up and scored two baskets to cut the lead to 4 and had the ball under their own basket with 1:37 left, but failed to score. The Lady Lions played tight man to man defense the entire game to help slow down the 4th grade Little Knights, who advanced by knocking out the hosts St. John Neumann. Three Lady Lions scored in the contest with Megan Silvey scoring 6, Jade Hutt 3, and Kailen Walther 2 points.

On Friday night the Lady Lions advanced to the Consolation Championship by defeating SS Peter and Paul by a score of 15-8. SSPP jumped out to a quick lead, but the Lady Lions fought back to take the lead and never relinquished it. Megan Silvey lead the Lady Lions with 11 points and Kailen Walher & Jade Hutt eached chipped in with 2 points each. "What makes this Consolation Championship so exciting is that we only had 2 4th graders on the team. We had 3 3rd graders, one that joined us just for this tournament, and 1 2nd grader. To be able to win 2 out of 3 games against 4th grade teams with only two 4th graders is very exciting." stated Coach Silvey.

Lady Lions win 3rd place at Holy Family Tour
(1/10/10) The Lady Lions 5th grade team took home the 3rd place trophy with a 21-11 win over the tournament host, Holy Family. The Lady Lions opened up the game with a triangle and two defense to try and slow the Holy Family's 5'5" center. The Lions turned used this defense to cause 35 turnovers. Makenzie Silvey had 13 steals and Suze Jezek had 10 steals. "I told these girls, before the game, that pressure on their guards was going to be the key to our chances at winning this game. Their tallest player has about 6" on my tallest player and she can't score if we can keep her from getting the ball." Coach Silvey's was in reference to MCS' tallest player, Tori Perez, being absent from their semi final and the 3rd / 4th place game due to prior obligations. Holy Family scored the first two points of the game before MCS went on a 17-2 run to take a 17-4 lead mid way through the 3rd quarter. MCS never looked back as they went on to win the game 21-9. Makenzie Silvey lead the Lady Lions with 16 points as Suze Jezek added 3 points and Deb Mayfield added 2 points.

Lady Lions split at St. Clare
On Thursday evening the 5th grade season came to a finish as the Lady Lions jumped out to a 10-2 first quarter lead over the host Knights and they never looked back. Leading by 14 at half, the Lady Lions 5th grade team which finished the season with a 13-3 record, went on to a 29-11 win. "This was a great game for us to finish the season" quoted Coach Silvey "as all of my team got significant minutes in this game. This is good for the program as a whole and good for them individually." Six members of the Lady Lions scored, which was a season high, and they were lead by Makenzie Silvey with 12 points, Lorren Walther 6 points, Deb Mayfield 4 points, Tori Perez 3 points and Addie Moore & Suze Jezek each added 2 points each.

In the 6th grade game the Lady Lions lead after each of the first 3 quarters, but didn't lead when it mattered most, falling to the host team 19-14. "St. Clare scored 10 of their 19 points and we only scored 2 points. We can't finish games by only scoring two points and expect to win many games" stated the Coach. "What really threw us off was the fact that St. Clare plays normal full court pressing rules at the 6th grade level, while we normally only play the final two minutes of each half. We were not prepared for this, we have not practiced against this in quite some time, and we didn't handle their press. That was the reason we lost the game. We had 18 turnovers in the game, and I think 12 of those were in the second half, and they converted those into easy baskets in the 4th quarter. You have to give them credit, but I can not fault my girls for not being prepared. They were not prepared because I didn't prepare them for the press." MCS received points from 4 players, and were lead by Alana Moore's 6 points. Makenzie Silvey had 4 and Suze Jezek & Addie Moore each added 2.

Lady Lions split at Trinity Lutheran
(1/14/10) The Lady Lions 5th grade team ran their record to 12-3 on the season with a 23-11 victory over the Trinity Lady Eagles. However, Trinity didn't make it easy on the Lady Lions as they jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game. After a basket by Addie Moore got the Lady Lions on the scoreboard, they went on a 23-5 run over the rest of the game to pull away from the younger Lady Eagles. Addie Moore lead the Lady Lions with a career high 13 points, Deb Mayfield also added a career high 4 points, Megan Silvey 4 points, and Lorren Walther, who played for just a minute, added 2 points.

In the 6th grade game the Lady Eagles were looking to seek revenge for a Nov 17th loss at MCS and got it as they won 27-25. MCS, who started out very sluggishly against the much taller Lady Eagles, fell behind 11-3 after one quarter of play. "The key to that 1st quarter spurt was foul trouble on our guard Makenzie Silvey", stated Coach Silvey. "We had to put Makenzie back in the game during the 2nd quarter or it might have gotten away from us." The Lady Lions made some shots in the 2nd quarter, but so did TL as they held a 19-13 advantage at halftime and added to that lead by going up 25-18 after 3 quarters. "What was exciting for us is that we were down 25-14 in the 3rd quarter and we did not give up. Being down by 11 points against a team like TL and their size, sometimes the girls might want to give up, but they didn't do so this evening." "We were also down 27-20 with 1:30 left in the game and we had 2 chances to tie the game in the last 10 seconds, but the shots just didn't fall. This is a great learning experience for our younger team. We can't dig ourselves a large hole and expect for us to come back when we are playing up a year. However, Coach Moore and I are proud of their effort this evening." Makenzie Silvey lead the Lady Lions with 12 points and their lone 6th grader, Alana Moore, added 9 points. Lorren Walther with 3 and Tori Perez with 1 rounded out the scoring. The Lady Lions next take to the road for a game at St. Clare O'Fallon ON Jan 21st.

Lady Lions play well in loss to Bethalto Eagles
(1/9/10) The Lady Lions played a good game here on Saturday as they played the Bethalto Eagles in the semi-final round of the Holy Family 5th grade tournament. The Bethalto Eagles had 2 girls about 6" taller than my tallest player and they used this advantage to beat us 19-15 today . We see a lot of teams that are taller than us, but most of them can't dribble the ball, and take it to the goal, like #23 did today against us. We didn't back down and I was very proud of our effort. It would have been interesting to see how the game would have turned out if my center, Tori Perez, was at the game today stated Coach Silvey. Coach Silvey's reference was speaking of his center Tori Perez who had prior obligations for the weekend tournament. The Lady Lions received 11 points from Makenzie Silvey, and two point each from Addie Moore and Deb Mayfield. Bethalto is a good team, but we have to refocus and come out strong against Holy Family tomorrow in the 3rd place game. We have not played Holy Family this year, but I have spoken to a couple of other coaches who have played them to try and get a scouting report. From what I have been told they have a really tall girl, but the key to us winning will be our guard play

Lady Lions defeat St. Paul Highland move on to Semi's
(1/6/10) The Lady Lions 5th grade team, playing thier first game in 22 days, opened up the Holy Family tournament with 23-13 win over St. Paul Highland on Wednesday evening. The first half of play saw very little scoring, but didn't lack in the action, as each team played tough man to man defense and kept the score at halftime 6-4 with the slight advantage going to MCS. However, in the 3rd quarter, MCS put together one of their best quarters of the year as they went on a 13-2 run to open up the lead to 19-6 after 3 quarters. Trying to get his less experienced players quality time in a tournament setting, the coaches sat all of their starters except Makenzie Silvey. St. Paul didn't go down quietly as they scored 7 straight points to bring the game back to within 6. It was at this point that all the starters went back in to help secure the win as Lorren Walther sank 3 out of 4 free throws and Makenzie Silvey added another free throw to secure the win. All 5 starters scored for MCS being lead by Makenzie Silvey's 11 points. Lorren Walther added 5, Tori Perez 3, and Addie Moore & Suze Jezek each contributing 2 each. The Lady Lions move on to semi-final action on Saturday morning at 11am. Their opponent is yet to be determined.

Holy Family Tournament Opening Round
(12/30/09) The Lady Lions 5th grade team open the Holy Family tournament with an 8pm tip time against St. Paul Highland on Wednesday Jan 6th. The two teams have meet once this season with MCS coming out with the victory in a closely matched game 20-15 back on Nov 30th. This will be the third time overall that these two teams will be meeting one another with St. Paul Highland defeating the Lady Lions in the championship game of the 4th grade tournament in Jan 2009. The MCS coaching staff will be looking at highly competitive game as St. Paul Highland has several girls that double up their playing time with the select league team Highland Stingers. Limiting our turnovers and keeping St. Paul off the offensive boards will be keys for us. If we turn the ball over it will ignite their very good fast break, and give them easier scoring opportunities and we just can't afford to do that states Coach Silvey.

Depending on the outcome of this game MCS will play their second game of the tournament on Saturday Jan 9th. If they win we will play at 11am and if we lose we will play at 9am.

MCS wins 2 against visiting Trinity Lutheran
(11/17/09) The Lady Lions 5th grade team ran their record to 4-1 with a 23-8 victory here this evening over visting Trinity Lutheran. The 5th grade Lady Eagles, playing up a year, were out manned by the older, more experienced Lady Lions. The Lady Lions 5th graders received an early bucket by Suze Jezek (Granite City) and then 12 points from Makenzie Silvey (Maryville) in the first 4 minutes of the game to give the Lady Lions a 14-0 lead. Being respectful of all opponents, Coach Silvey substituted all of his less experienced players and allowed them to gain valuable experience against T.L. "The more minutes they gain in actual games the better off the program will be in the future. We have to continue to allow these girls to develop their skills." stated the coach. Megan Silvey,the 3rd grade sister of Makenzie Silvey, scored 9 points off the bench (all coming in the 2nd quarter) and also contributed 8 rebounds & 6 steals. Deb Mayfield also made good contributions on the glass with 6 rebounds and Allie cochran also had 6 rebounds. The 5th grade Lady Lions next play on Nov 24th as they host Holy Cross out of Collinsville. The tip time is set for 6:30.

In the 6th grade game, the Lady Lions played one of their best games of the year and beat the much larger Trinity Lutheran team 27-22. Trinity Lutheran got off to a fast start and lead 6-0 just a couple minutes into the game. However, MCS kept their composure and brought the score back to 12-8 after an in-bounds jumper with 5 seconds left in the first quarter by Makenzie Silvey. The game continued to be hard fought in the 2nd quarter as T.L. lead at half by a score of 18-16,but a big factor for the Lady Lions win came in the 3rd quarter as their tough defense kept the Lady Eagles scoreless in the 3rd quarter and MCS lead 20-18. The 4th quarter brought more tough defense as the Lady Lions allowed 4 points and went on to a victory of 27-22. "This was a big win for us" stated Coach Silvey "as our girls continued to fight against T.L. Trinity is a very good team and they have all kinds of size, but we didn't let them intimidate us and we continued to play aggressive basketball. Five of our six players that played in this game scored, so when a team can't focus on just one player, it allows us many more chances to score" Makenzie Silvey lead the scoring attach with 15 points, Addie Moore scored 5 points, Tori Perez & Alana Moore each added 3 and Lorren Walther added 1 point.
The 6th grade team next plays on Fri Nov 20th as they travel to First Baptist Academy O'Fallon for a game against their 7th graders. The tip time is set for 6pm.

MCS hosts SSPP & earns a split
(11/12/09) The Lady Lions hosted SSPP, out of Collinsville, here on Thursday evening for a 5th & 6th grade contest. In the 5th grade game the Lady Lions started very sluggishly and was trailing SSPP 6-2 after one period of play. However, the Lady Lions turned it around in the 2nd quarter as they outscored SSPP 10-2 and was highlighted by 8 2nd quarter points by Makenzie Silvey. SSPP didn't fold as they came out strong in the 3rd quarter cutting the lead by MCS to 16-14 after 3 quarters. The Lady Lions continued to play tough man to man defense in the 4th quarter and limited SSPP to 4 points in the 4th quarter. The Lions scored 7 points in the 4th quarter and went on to a 23-18 win. Encouraging to the coaching staff, MCS had contributions from 5 different players being lead by Makenzie Silvey's 12 points. Also scoring for the Lady Lions were Tori Perez (5), Lorren Walther (2), Suze Jezek (2), & Deb Mayfield (2). The win improved the 5th grade teams record to 3 and 1 on the season.

In the 6th grade game, the Lady Lions played very aggressive defense and gave SSPP all they could handle, but ultimately fell by a score of 16-13. SSPP, who sports only one loss in three years, had a balanced scoring attack as they had 3 players with 4 points and two players with two points. "This game was very encouraging stated head coach Jeff Silvey, as these SSPP girls are very well coached and have a good size up and down their lineup. This team, last year, beat us by 20+ points in each of our contests, but we had a contested 6' jumper with 8 seconds left that rimmed out that would have given us the win." The jumper the coach is referring to was setup on an in bounds play under the Lions own goal with 8 seconds left and trailing by a score of 14-13. Makenzie Silvey received a pass a couple steps off the left low post, and as Ellie McCarthy was charging Silvey got the shot off but rimmed out. SSPP secured the rebound and threw a long outlet pass and scored a layup with 2 seconds left to secure the win. The Lady Lions received points from 4 different players and were lead by 6th grader Alana Moore's 5 points. Makenzie Silvey added 4 and Lorren Walther & Suze Jezek each contributed 2 points each.

MCS Goes on Road and Gets 2 Victories
(11/5/09) The Lady Lions took to the road as they traveled to St. Mary's Edwardsville for a 5th & 6th grade contest Thursday evening. In the 5th grade game Tori Perez won the tip, as she directed it to Makenzie Silvey, and Silvey streaked down the left side for an easy layup to put the Lady Lions up 2-0. This set the tone for the Lady Lions as their tough man to man defense translated into easy scoring opportunities created by steals and they raced out to a 12-0 first quarter lead. In the first quarter Silvey, Suze Jezek, and Tori Perez each scored 4 points each. The key to this game was the tough man to man defense and not allowing St. Mary's to get into their offensive set. As a result of this early, and comfortable lead, Coach Silvey was able to give significant playing time to his less experienced players. Deb Mayfield (5th), Jade Hutt (4th), Allie Cochran (4th), Breanna Mills (4th) and Megan Silvey (3rd) each played 2 1/2 quarters of the game. The Lady Lions ended up winning 20-8. Besides Makenzie Silvey, Tori Perez, Suze Jezek each tallied 6 points and Megan Silvey added a bucket in the win.

In the 6th grade game, the Lady Lions mirrored the 5th grade game as they used tough man to man defense to jump out to a 9-0 1st quarter lead and they cruised to a 24-2 victory. Balanced scoring by the 6th Grade Lady Lions made it tough for St. Mary's to focus on one person. Suze Jezek, a 5th grader, lead the Lady Lions with 10 points. Alana Moore, the Lady Lions only 6th grader, and Makenzie Silvey each scored 5 points and Lorren Walther added 2 points. The Lady Lions are now off until one week from tonight as they entertain the Hornets from SS Peter & Paul. "This will be a tough test for us" stated Coach Silvey, "as the Hornets are really good. If memory serves me correct, the 6th grade Hornets are undefeated in the last 3 years. The tip time for the 5th grade girls will be 6:30 and the 6th grade girls will play after the first game.

MCS finishes their own Tournament winless, play well in loss to champrion Triad
(10/31/09) The 6th grade Lady Lions, comprised of all 5th graders except one, finished their own MCS tournament 0-3, but the coaches saw much improved play in their 3rd game against Triad. Opening up Thursday night against St. John Neumann, the Lady Lions played a tough man to man defense and had opportunity after opportunity on the offensive, but couldn't capitalize as they lost to the Crusaders 15-9. "What was frustrating about this evening, was that we missed at least 6 uncontested layups, and another 4 or 5 short range jumpers. If a few of these fall we probably win by 10 points." However, it was not meant to be, at least not on this night. Alana Moore, Makenzie Silvey, Suze Jezek, and Tori Perez all scored for the Lady Lions. In their second game cold shooting continue to haunt the Lady Lions as they were 6 - 65 from the field and lost to St Mary's Edwardsville 21-18. The Lady Lions were led by Makenzie Silvey's 13 points and Alana Moore (2), Tori Perez (2) and Lorren Walther (1) rounded out the scoring. In their final game, against the much larger and older team from Triad, the coaches challenged their team to play aggressive defense and to try and take advantage of their opportunities. The Lady Lions, as in the previous two nights, started out cold and fell behind 15-5 at half. However, they continued to fight in the second half and was outscored 18-17. Coach Moore, Coach Silvey and the fans that were in attendance were all pleased with the amount of effort exhibited by the Lady Lions. Balanced scoring and good ball movement were keys for MCS as 5 of their 6 players scored. The Lady Lions were led by 6th grader Alana Moore (9) and Makenzie Silvey (6), but also received points from Suze Jezek (3), Addie Moore (2), Lorren Walther (1) and 3rd Grader Megan Silvey (1). The Lady Lions take to the floor again on Tuesday night as they host St. John Neumann and try to get avenge the loss a few days earlier.

Lady Lions open up at Aviston, late flurry falls one point short
(10/23/09) The Lady Lions opened up their 2009-2010 campaign as they travled to annual Class M power Aviston. Coming into the game this was Aviston's 6th game of the year and they used this experience to jump out to a 5 - 0 first quarter lead. After a timeout by MCS, 5th grader Makenzie Silvey scored MCS's first points of the year and then an offensive rebound putback by Tori Perez, a 5th grader from Troy, pulled MCS to within one at the quarter. MCS, using a tough man to man defense, kept Aviston scoreless in the 2nd quarter, and MCS added another tally from Makenzie Silvey to go up 6 - 5. The next trip down the floor Makenzie Silvey drove right and dropped off a pass to 3rd grade sister Megan, as she sunk a 8' baseline jumper. This put MCS up at half with a 8 - 5 lead. Coming out in the second half, Aviston jumped all over MCS and took a 13 - 10 lead after three quarters. Another bucket in the 4th quarter by Aviston and they held a 5 point lead with 30 seconds to play. However, the Lady Lions continued to fight and 5th grader Addie Moore stole the ball at the halfline and dished off to Makenzie Silvey as she drove the left side of the floor for a layup to bring the Lady Lions to within 3 points. Aviston in bounded the ball immediatley and Makenzie Silvey came up with another steal and drove in for another layup to bring MCS to within 1 point with 4.5 seconds to play. Aviston, now flustered, threw the ball in bounds and once again Makenzie Silvey stole the ball and as she was getting set to shoot a 6 footer for the win the buzzer sounded giving the Lady Eagle the victory 15 - 14. The win improved the Lady Eagles 5th grade team to 3 - 3 on the year, while the loss was the first of the season for MCS 5th grade team. Makenzie Silvey lead the Lions with 10 points and Tori Perez and Megan Silvey each added two points.

In the 6th grade game, that immediately followed this game, Aviston jumped out to a 12 - 4 first quarter lead and never looked back as they cruised to a 36 - 6 victory. Alana Moore, a 6th grader from Collinsville, lead the Lions with 4 points and Makenzie Silvey added 2 points. The 6th grade team looks to get on the winning track as they open their MCS Tip Off Classic on Thursday Oct 29th as they host St. John Neumann with a 7:15 tip time.

6 Members of Lady Lions travel to Salem, IL to play in Summer Shootout
(6/14/09) Six members of the Lady Lions traveled to Salem, IL over the weekend to play in the Southern Illinois Basketball Circuit Salem Shootout. During the weekend play, the Lady Lions gained valuable playing time experience as they played 8 games in 3 days. Coach Silvey's goal, when entering this Shootout, was for his team to have a lot of playing time during the summer, which is typcially a down time for basketball. He also wanted the team to play teams that MCS will not see during their regular basketball season. Over the weekend MCS played Salem, North Clay, Field, CHBC, Olney (twice), Breese, and Fairfield. The Lady Lions were successful as they finished the shootout with a 6 & 2 record, with their losses coming to Breese and Olney. In addition to the Lady Lions players, the team was joined by Andrea Frerker (Jr Kahoks), and Sophie Thompson (St John Neumann) to round out their roster.

4th Grade Lady Lions make it to championship but lose by 1
(1/25/09) The 4th grade Lady Lions, playing in their first tournament as a school, lost to St. Paul Highland by one point in the championship game here Saturday evening. The 4th grade team, playing their 4th game in 3 days, fought hard all game but came up just short to a Highland team that was 8 deep. MCS opened up tournament play on Friday evening with a 17 - 3 win over St. Mary's out of Alton. Makenzie Silvey scored 10 points to lead the Lions. Addie Moore added 4 points, Megan Silvey 2 points, and Bethany Empbrich added 1 point. In the semi's MCS faced SS Peter & Paul and beat the team from Collinsville by a score of 17 - 10. Makenzie Silvey lead the Lions with 14 points and Addie Moore added 3 points. In the championship game it was a tight game the entire night, but MCS just couldn't get over the hump. The Lions, who never lead in the game, climbed to within one point with just over a minute to play as Makenzie Silvey sank two free throws. After St. Paul Highland called a timeout, Silvey, was going for a steal and was called for her 5th foul. After her 5th foul, St. Paul ran the clock out to win the title. In the final, Makenzie Silvey scored 12 points and Bethany Embrich added 1 point.

5th Grade Lady Lions fall; finish 1st season at 6 & 8
(1/22/09) The 5th grade Lady Lions finished their first season with a 17 - 14 loss to St. Clare out of O'Fallon. The loss gave the Lady Lions a final record of 6 & 8. The Lady Lions lead after the first quarter, at halftime, and was tied at the end of the 3rd quarter but hit a cold streak in the 4th quarter and got outscored by three points in the 4th quarter. The Lions, who played tough man to man defense, had several good looks at the basket on the offensive end, but just couldn't get them to fall this evening. Coach Silvey was well pleased with the way that the Lions competed against the much taller and more experienced team but was disappointed with the loss. Makenzie Silvey lead the Lions with 10 points and Alana Moore added 4 points.
Lady Lions to participate in St. John Neumann Tour.
(1/20/09) The Lady Lions 4th graders will be playing in the St. John Neumann 4th grade tournament this weekend. Their opening round game is set for Friday evening at 7:45 as they face St. Mary's out of Alton. The Lady Lions 5th grade team consists of 5 4th graders, so playing up one level all year long should help prepare the Lions as they enter this tournament. To add one sub, Coach Silvey will have Megan Silvey on the team as well. Megan, a 2nd grader, has been practicing with the Lady Lions 5th grade team all year long and the Coach is confident that she will be able to "hold her own" in this tournament.

Lady Lions play well, defeat Good Shepherd
(1/20/09) The Lady Lions played all facets of the game very well here this evening and beat the home team by the score of 27 - 13. The Lady Lions raced out to a 13 - 4 first quarter lead and never looked back as their tough man to man defense kept Good Shepherd under pressure all night long. This pressure lead to a lot of turnovers and MCS didn't waste their opportunities as they converted these into scoring chances. 4th grader Makenzie Silvey scored a season high 18 points as she led all scorers. Alana Moore scored 6 points and Addie Moore added 3 points. The Lady Lions 5th Grade team travels to St. Clare O'Fallon for their final game of the season on Thursday evening at 5:30. With this victory the Lions raised their record to 6 - 7 during this first season, and have an opportunity to finish at the 500 mark. Considering this is the first year for the program, and first experience for most of the team, this would be a very good year commented Coach Silvey.

Lady Lions fall on road, record falls to 5 - 7
(1/12/09) The Lady Lions, playing St. John Neumann for the 2nd time this year, lost a tough game on the road Monday night. St John Neuman, who had defeated MCS during their first game as a program this year by a score of 25-12, came from behind in the 4th quarter to defeat the Lady Lions by a score of 14 - 9. MCS, who had plenty of good scoring chances, couldn't capitalize on their opportunities. Makenzie Silvey led the Lady Lions with 8 points and Alana Moore scored one point. The Lady Lions take to the road to play Good Shepherd on Tuesday at 5:30pm.

Lady Lions win on road, improve record to 5 - 6
(1/8/09) The Lady Lions, playing their first game in 29 days, won on the road Tuesday evening as they defeated St. Paul Highland by a score of 26-12. The Lady Lions, who played their best game of the year, jumped out to a 12-0 first quarter lead. This lead was possible by tough man to man defense as it kept the Vikings out of their offensive sets. Another positive sign was that 5 of the 7 Lions scored, and their passing was crisper. 4th grader Makenzie Silvey led the Lady Lions with 10 points. 5th grader's Jillian Combs and Alana Moore each added 6 points and 4th graders Addie Moore & Lorren Walther each chipped in 2 points. The Lions take to the road again as they face cross town foe, St. John Neumann, on Monday January 12th. The tip time is set for 6:30pm.

Lady Lions win on road, improve record to 4 - 5
(12/9/08) The Lady Lions won on the road Tuesday evening as they defeated Holy Cross by a score of 16-4. The game was tied at 2 each at halftime, but Makenzie Silvey scored 10 of her points in the 2nd half to pull away from Holy CrossThe win brings the Lady Lions record to 4-5 on the year as they will take to the road again on Thursday Dec 11th. Leading the Lions in scoring was 4th grader Silvey with 12 points. Alana Moore added 4 points.

Lady Lions lose on road, fall below 500 on year
(12/2/08) The Lady Lions fell to St. Mary's Edwardsville Tuesday evening to drop their record to 3 & 4 on the year. MCS showed no energy for entire first half found themselves trailing at halftime by the score of 16-0. Very disappointed, and trying to make a positive out of the evening, the MCS coaching staff impressed on the young team that they had to raise their intensity level or they would lose like this every game. Responding to their call the Lions played much better, and outscored St. Mary's 10 - 8, but it was far too little too late. The final score was 26 - 10. Makenzie Silvey scored all 10 points for the Lady Lions who will host their final home game of the year on December 4th. The tip time is set for 6:30pm and the Lions host SS Peter & Paul.

Lady Lions defeat Holy Cross, even record
(11/24/08) The Lady Lions evened their record at 3 & 3 as they defeated Holy Cross out of Collinsville. Maryville Christian, coming off a disappointing loss at Holy Family just four days earlier, jumped on the Braves early as they got out to a quick 12 - 0 lead and never looked back. MCS, who had five players score, were lead by 4th grader Makenzie Silvey's 14 points. Alana Moore added 4 points and Addie Moore, Lorren Walther, and Kenzie Miller each contributed with 2 points a piece. The Lady Lions take to the road on December 2nd as they travel to St. Mary's in Edwardsville. The tip time is set for 6:00pm.

Lady Lions fall to tough Hornets squad
(11/17/08) The Lady Lions fell to SS Peter & Paul Monday evening by a score of 34 - 11 dropping their record to 2 - 2 on the season. The Lady Lions got out to a fast 5 - 2 lead, after a traditional 3 point play by Kenzie Miller, but the undefeated Hornets played a tough zone defense forcing turnovers and converting them into easy baskets. The Hornets finished the first quarter up 10 - 5 and never looked back from there. Makenzie Silvey lead the Lions with 6 points with Kenzie Miller adding 3 points and Addie Moore chipping in 2 points. The Lady Lions travel to Holy Family on Thursday Nov 20th as Holy Family looks to avenge a loss just 10 days earlier. The tip time is set for 6:00pm.

Buzzer Beater propels Lady Lions to victory
(11/10/08) The Lady Lions won their 2nd straight game in dramatic fashion with a buzzer beater to beat the visiting team from Holy Family. Maryville Christian, coming off a thrilling victory just one week ago, played sluggishly througout the evening to the much taller team from Granite City, but still found themselves in postion to win. The Lady Lions were trailing by 2 points with under 30 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, when Kenzie Miller was fouled sending her to the free throw line. After missing the first of two free throws, the 5th grader from Troy, calmly sank the second free throw to bring MCS to within 1. MCS went into their full court press causing a turnover in the corner, but MCS immediately turned the ball back over to Holy Family. By this time there were 11 seconds left in the game, and Holy Family was in bounding the ball from the sideline. After successfully getting the ball in play they found themselves heading into their front court when MCS guard Makenzie Silvey stole the ball from behind. She immediately passed to an open Addie Moore who drove the ball down the middle of the floor and pulled up from just inside the free throw line to bank in the game winner. Addie, a fourth grader from Collinsville, scored 4 points to help improve MCS's record to 2 and 1 on the young season. Makenzie Silvey lead all scorers with 10 points and Kenzie Miller added 1 point. The Lady Lions will take to the road for the first time this year as they visit a strong SS Peter & Paul team out of Collinsville.

Lady Lions Win Thriller, Defeat St. Paul Highland
(11/03/08)The Lady Lions earned their first victory of the young season, and in their history, with an exciting come from behind win to defeat the opposing team from Highland. The Lions played tough man to man defense all game long but still found themselves trailing St. Paul with 39.8 seconds remaining. With St. Paul in bounding the ball from under their basket, the Lady Lions defense came up with a crucial steal which sent guard Makenzie Silvey heading into the front court. While attempting a jump shot, the 4th grader from Maryville, was fouled sending her to the free throw line with 29.8 seconds remaining. After calmly sinking the first free throw to tie the game, Silvey banked in the 2nd free throw to give the Lions the lead. St. Paul Highland had two more opportunities to score but their hope was sunk after 5th grader Jillian Combs came up with the games final steal to secure the victory. Makenzie Silvey lead the Lions with 7 pts, Alana Moore added 4 pts and sister Addie Moore chipped in with 2 pts. The Lady Lions' next game will be held on Nov 10th as they will entertain Holy Family out of Granite City.

MCS vs St. John Neumann
(10/28/08)The MCS Lions made MCS basketball history Monday October 28, 2008 as they played host to St. John Neumann in their first game as a school team. The Lady Lions opened up their careers by getting off to a quick start and staying with the much bigger and more experienced Crusaders from St. John Neumann. At the end of the first quarter SJN lead 6 - 4, but by halftime MCS had tied the score at 10. MCS continued to hang with SJN as they were trailing 14 - 10 with only 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, but SJN asserted their size on the offensive glass and pulled away for a 25 - 12 win. The Lady Lions had 5 players score and were lead by Makenzie Silvey's 4 points. Also scoring for MCS was Alana Moore, Addie Moore, Jillian Combs, and Kenzie Miller who each chipped in 2 points.

Lion Athletes on the Honor Roll
(10/24/08) Congratulations go out to Makenzie Silvey & Lorren Walther (High Honors) and Bethany Embrich, Matt Manisi, Deborah Mayfield, & Addie Moore (Honor Roll) for their academic accomplishments during the first quarter at MCS. All of these student athletes are students in Mrs. Blanton's 4th grade classroom. 5th grade student athletes that have made the (High Honor Roll) was Alana Moore, and on the (Honor Roll) were Jillian Combs and Kenzie Miller.

Season Opener
(10/22/08) The 5th Grade Girls basketball team opens their season on Tuesday October 28th as they host another Maryville school, St. John Neumann. The Lady Lions hope to use their home court to their advantage as their first 3 games will be played inside the Family Life Center on the campus of First Baptist Church Maryville. Some things to keep in mind when attending a basketball game - There is no assigned seating, you will need to use the East entrance (gym side) of the church to gain entry, tickets will be $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for students.

MCS Mascot Approved
(8/4/08) At the MCS School board meeting on August 4th, the MCS Mascot was voted on and approved. The new mascot for Maryville Christian School will be the "Lions". Please check back here in the next few days to see a picture of the new logo.

Academic Standards
Parents - Please make sure you are familiar with our tough academic standards. If you have any questions please see Coach Silvey.

Tranportation Guidelines
Parents - are you familiar with MCS transportation guidelines for travel to road games? To read the policy Click Here