GILLESPIE – The Roxana High School girls basketball team saw its season come to a close Monday night.
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After winning Saturday’s play-in game against Litchfield, the No. 8-seeded Shells took on the No. 2-seeded Staunton Bulldogs in the IHSA Class 2A Gillespie Regional semifinals.
Daisy Daugherty opened the game by shooting one-of-two from the free throw line to take the lead, however, it would be Roxana’s last, as they’d trail Staunton the rest of the game and eventually fall 49-33.
After the opening foul shot, the Dogs went on a 7-2 run to flip the script and take a 7-3 lead. A buzzer-beating basket from Jenna Staggs put Staunton up 12-6 after the first quarter.
Sparked by Samantha Anderson’s three-pointer, the Dogs opened the second quarter on an 8-2 run to boost their lead to 20-8. They’d go on to lead 27-15 at the half.
Staunton would lead by as many as 15 points at 35-20 before a 10-point run from the Shells to end the third quarter and open the fourth.
Kylee Slayden nailed a triple, and Daugherty sank one free throw to close the third and then Daugherty opened the fourth with back-to-back three-point plays, cutting the lead to 35-30.
From then on out though, two of Roxana’s starters, Ava Cherry and Tatum Shaw were working with four fouls each with 6:30 remaining in the game.
The Dogs went on a 6-3 slide to increase the lead to 41-33 before Shaw fouled out with 3:21 to go. Staunton then scored the game’s next six points to extend the lead to 47-33 before Slayden fouled out with 57 seconds remaining.
The foul trouble and costly turnovers ended up being the deciding factor for Roxana.
“We didn’t take care of the ball,” Roxana head coach Mike Arbuthnot said. “That’s all it comes down to. We had 20 turnovers. We didn’t take care of the ball well enough to stay in the game consistently.”
With the loss, Roxana’s season ends with a 15-18 record.
“A lot of that has to do with our competition,” Arbuthnot said. “You can win two in a row and then you’re going to Breese Central. And then you’re winning two and a row and you have to go to Columbia.”
“If we would’ve played a schedule like some of these teams, we would have had 20 wins too, but we learned a lot and pushed the kids. We got better. Winning 15 ball games, with a pretty inexperienced group coming back, I’ll take that anytime.”
Roxana lost five seniors in 2024 and returned with a strong junior class. One that consists of Daugherty, Shaw, Slayden, and Cherry. Those four started Monday’s game along with freshman Josie Brannon.
A team that doesn’t have much postseason experience.
“And you can tell,” Arbuthnot said. “Our decision making against that 1-2-2; we worked on it a lot in practice, but it’s hard to simulate it because [Staunton] is obviously a lot quicker compared to what I’m able to practice against.”
The Shells only saw three scorers on Monday. Daugherty led with 22 points, Slayden had nine, and Shaw had two.
“Proud of our kids, proud of their effort,” Arbuthnot said. “We took a 25-5 team, and we had a chance to win the ballgame late. And we were down by 15 and were able to get back in it.”
Staunton had three players in double figures.
Ele Feldmann and Lilly Bandy each scored 14 while Jenna Staggs scored 10. Sam Anderson added eight points and Kadyn Legendre had three.
The Dogs improve to 26-5 on the season and move onto Friday’s regional championship against No. 5-seeded Marquette Catholic. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Gillespie.
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