ROXANA - The Roxana Eighth-Grade girls basketball team made history again recently by winning the Class 3A IESA Eighth-Grade Regional and Sectional Championships and advancing to the state finals.

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The girls were 20-4 under head coach Carol Fletcher and assistant coach Brian Diskin. The Roxana Eighth-Grade girls basketball team is the Midwest Members Credit Union Female Athletes of the Month for the Shells.

Shown above are team members: front row left to right: Raegan Martin, Kylee Slayden, Daisy Daugherty and Mikaela Murphy. Back row left to right: Grace Huch, Jenny Brown, Kylah Brown, Ava Cherry, Coach Fletcher, Tatum Shaw, Lilli Ray, and Hayley Schlemer.

Athlete of the Month is sponsored by

Coach Fletcher said the girls had an “incredible” season.

“They had to withstand some illnesses and we brought up some seventh graders to play and they held in there with the other girls,” she said. “They did a good job all the way through.”

Roxana posted wins over Carlinville 24-13 and then Southwestern in overtime 24-21 to win the regional. Roxana defeated Greenville 30-23 in the sectional championship at Vandalia. Roxana lost to Channahon 24-15 in the state tourney in Germantown Hills Middle School near Peoria. The Shells ended up in fifth place in the state.

“This team has a lot of promise,” Coach Fletcher said of their futures with Roxana High School's girls' basketball program. “We are going to get some of these girls next year and we are looking for big things from them. We are also looking forward to having these fantastic seventh graders back for another season."

Fletcher continued and said: "This is the second eighth-grade team to go to state. The sophomore group was the first group in Roxana history to go to state for girls basketball. The eighth-grade group is the second team to do this. These two teams mirrored each other in records and both teams had to defeat Southwestern for the regional championship."

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