BELLEVILLE — Entering Tuesday the Alton Redbirds and Belleville West Maroons had split a pair of regular season meetings with a total of 2 points separating the Southwestern Conference foes.
That precedence was sure to make Tuesday’s Class 4A Belleville East Regional quarterfinal contest a tight one. Unfortunately for the Birds it didn’t go their way. West bested Alton 40-36 to advance to the regional semifinals and slam the door on the Redbirds’ season.
Alton closed the 2017-18 campaign with a 9-17 record. The Maroons now advance to face Edwardsville — the top seed in the regional and No. 1 team in the state — at 6 p.m. Wednesday at East in the regional semifinal.
AHS charged out of the gates on Tuesday, racing to a 10-2 lead to start the game. Sophomore Ivoree Lacey netted the first 6 points for the Birds, followed by jumpers from Laila McNeal and Diarra Smith. They led 10-2 at the 3:54 mark of the first quarter.
Alton took a blow at the 2:51 mark of the opening frame though when Lacey picked up her second foul and went to the bench. West scored the next 4 points of the stanza and cut the AHS lead to 10-6 at quarter’s end. Lacey didn’t return until the second half.
McNeal opened the second quarter with a pair of jump shots to expand the Alton lead to 14-6 at the 6:04 mark, but that’s when the Maroons got marching. West turned up its press on defense and got the offense flowing, motoring on a 13-0 run to close out the half.
The scoring spree lasted nearly the final 5 minutes of the second quarter and allowed the Maroons to carry a 19-14 advantage into the break. Brittany Walker’s 3-pointer with 23 seconds to go in the half was the exclamation point of the run.
That series turned out to be the difference in the game because the Birds returned from the break playing better. Unfortunately they were never able to regain a lead.
Jayla Fox and Rayn Tally scored to open the third quarter to dwindle West’s lead to 19-18 at the 7:08 mark. McNeal added a field goal a little later to keep Alton within 21-20 at the 6:27 mark, but a 6-0 spurt by the Maroons extended it to 27-20 with 3:48 left in the third.
When AHS’ A’llurah Bowens scored with 11.3 seconds remaining in the frame, it was back to a one possession game at 29-26, but West’s TyKiaza Jones answered by racing down the court and drawing a foul. She hit the backend of 2 free throws to push the Maroons’ lead to 30-26 entering the final frame.
Shaniah Nunn netted the first basket of the fourth quarter to grow West’s lead to 32-26. The 6-foot-1 Nunn gave the Redbirds fits, especially in the second half when she scored 12 of her game-high 16 points. She also had 13 rebounds.
Alton made a push late, scoring 5 straight points in the final minute to get it back to a one possession game with 14.3 seconds left at 39-36. Fox hit a free throw and McNeal and Bowens added baskets, but it wa little too late.
The Redbirds allowed too many seconds to tick off the clock before fouling on the inbounds play and West’s Mikayla Chapman hit the front end of her 2 free throws to produce the final score.
The loss ran Alton’s streak to 4 consecutive seasons without a postseason victory. The last AHS playoff win was a 49-30 win over Granite City on Feb. 19, 2014.
The Redbirds were led by McNeal with 11 points and Lacey with 10 on Tuesday. Other scorers for the Birds were, Tally and Bowens with 4 each, Fox with 3 and Smith and Deija Carter with 2 apiece. Alton now says goodbye to Smith and Denise Swain, who were the only 2 seniors on the young roster.
Nunn was the only double-digit scorer for the Maroons. Chapman was second on the team with 8 points in the win.
The other quarterfinal game on Tuesday saw Collinsville defeat Granite City 73-15. The Kahoks meet Belleville East at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday following the conclusion of the game between Edwardsville and West.
Alton head coach Tammy Talbert discusses the Redbirds' 40-36 loss to Belleville West in the 4A Belleville East Regional quarterfinals on Tuesday. Alton finished the season at 9-17.
Belleville West head coach Clayton Fisher talks about the 36-40 win over Alton in the 4A Belleville East Regional quarterfinals and Tuesday and Wednesday's matchup with Edwardsville — the No. 1 ranked team in the state — in the regional semifinals.
Rayn Tally (left) receives a play from Alton head coach Tammy Talbert on Jan. 30 at Collinsville. Talbert is back with the Redbirds after previously coaching them from 2002-08. The Birds were 9-15 entering this week and will be cast in the Class 4A Belleville East Regional.
The Alton Redbirds girls’ basketball team has shown marked improvement over the last year.
The Redbirds entered this week with a 9-15 record, an improvement over the 3 wins Alton compiled last season.
“We’ve really been focusing on defense this year,” AHS coach Tammy Talbert said. “The kids are getting in the gym and working hard. They’re also playing as a team.”
Alton suffered a 45-40 loss to Collinsville on Jan. 30 at Collinsville in its last game. The Redbirds defeated Collinsville 64-60 in overtime on Dec. 14 during their first meeting.
“We beat them on a buzzer beater in the first meeting and won by four points,” Talbert said following the loss to the Kahoks. “We did get off to a slow start tonight and Collinsville has lots of quality weapons on the perimeter. They’re very athletic as well.”
The Birds were tied with the Kahoks twice late, at 34-34 and 38-38 in the fourth quarter, during the loss, but couldn’t quite get over the hump. It marked the fourth loss for Alton this season by 5 points or less, which is a good start for Talbert’s return to the Redbirds as head coach.
Talbert is no stranger to the coaching profession, nor to the Riverbend. She served Marquette Catholic as head girls basketball coach from 1992-2000 and then was Alton’s head coach from 2002-08. Talbert was also an assistant at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey from 2009-10 before becoming the head coach at Roxana from 2012-16. She returned to Alton as an assistant coach last year before becoming the head coach again this season.
“It’s my life,” Talbert said of coaching. “It’s what I know. I love the late nights on the school bus with the girls.”
Talbert said she plans on coaching until she retires.
Alton has just two seniors this season — Diarra Smith and Denise Swain, but they’ve been impactful, especially Smith.
“Diarra has shown a lot of good leadership this year,” Talbert said. “We’re really going to miss her next year.”
Alton also has some quality underclassmen who will provide leadership in future seasons. Sophomore Rayn Tally finished the Collinsville game on Jan. 30 with 15 points, leading all Redbird scorers.
“She’s had some good games,” Talbert said of Tally. “She had a good game tonight.”
When she entered the game against Collinsville, Tally knew she was in for a fight.
“We beat them on a buzzer beater last time,” Tally said. “I knew from what we saw in the last game that we would have to work very hard.”
The sophomore played some varsity last year as a freshman and got experience with Talbert as the assistant coach.
“She’s a lot of fun,” Tally said of playing for Talbert. “She lets us incorporate some of our own things into the plays.”
Junior Chr’Shonna Hickman is averaging 7.0 points per game for the Redbirds. She suffered a concussion in a Jan. 9 contest against O’Fallon and returned against Collinsville. Talbert describes her as a player who “does a good job.”
“She’s been my coach a long time,” Hickman said of Talbert. “I think she always gets us to do our best.”
Hickman was glad to return to the court after injury.
“It’s great; I got a rush from being back,” she said. “I like being back and playing.”
The Redbirds had games with Belleville West and Edwardsville this week and are now preparing for the postseason. AHS is cast in the Class 4A Belleville East Regional. The Birds are the No. 8 seed and battle No. 9 West at 6 p.m. Tuesday to open the playoffs at East.
A win draws another matchup with powerhouse EHS — the No. 1-ranked team in 4A — but that would be OK. That would mean Alton would have its first postseason victory since Jan. 19, 2014.
“A definition of success would be getting better every game,” Talbert said. “We want every player to improve. Sometimes we really do look like a good team and other times we don’t, but we really want to improve.”
