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Emerson Weller in action during the Tigers' 37-35 loss to Belleville East in the Class 4A Belleville East Regional semifinals. Weller led EHS with 12 points.
Billy Woods/The Intelligencer
It was too little too late for the Edwardsville Tigers on Thursday.
After trailing 35-22 with just over four minutes left against sixth-seeded Belleville East in the Class 4A Belleville East Regional semifinals, the third-seeded Tigers mounted a comeback and tied the game 35-35 with 90 seconds left.
The Lancers used late free throws to win 37-35 and advance to the regional championship game against second-seeded O’Fallon at 7 p.m. Thursday.
“It was a lot,” Belleville East coach Amanda Kemezys said about the stress of the final minutes. “I told the girls there won’t be a practice tomorrow because I’m undergoing cardiac arrest right now.”
The loss ends the Tigers’ season at 16-13. The Lancers improve to 10-16 and will now aim for their first regional championship since 2016.
It was the first postseason opening loss for EHS since losing to Triad in the Chatham Glenwood Sectional on February 11, 2002. It had won 19 straight postseason openers since then.
EHS entered the game having won 18 straight regional championships and 42 straight against Belleville East dating back to December 5, 2006.
Following back-to-back putbacks by Taylor Smith and Kamora Davis off misses that gave the Lancers a 35-22 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the EHS offense started to find life.
“It’s kind of the tale of our season,” EHS coach Caty Happe said. “They could’ve quit there but they battled back. They did an incredible job of getting back in the game.”
A pair of free throws by both Emerson Weller and Ellie Neath, and another free throw by Zay Hoover cut the Tigers’ deficit to eight points.
Coming out of an EHS timeout, Neath connected on a three-pointer with 2:15 left, which was followed by a layup from Lainey McFarlin after a Lancers’ turnover to make it 35-32.
It was the only two field goals in the fourth quarter for the Tigers, who finished with nine total made field goals in the game.
“We didn’t hit a lot of outside shots today,” Happe said. “A credit to (Belleville East). They came in and really hurt our inside game.”
Two free throws by Weller and another by Hoover tied the game 35-35 with 90 seconds left.
“We knew (the run) was coming,” Kemezys said. “Edwardsville is a very good team. It’s a well-coached team. They make adjustments and go on runs. Their press bothered us at the end obviously. They kept getting to the free-throw line, which stops the clock and puts points on the board.”
Belleville East retook the lead on the next possession on a free throw by Aury Brierton to put the Lancers ahead 36-35.
EHS missed its next shot and fouled Belleville East, but the Lancers missed both throws.
The Tigers turned the ball over on the next possession, but Belleville East missed its next shot at the rim.
With 22 seconds left, EHS was fouled but missed both its free throws. The Tigers were fouled on a putback attempt and again missed both free throws.
The Lancers added a free throw from Sophia Tantillo, before the Tigers’ last-second shot in the post missed.
“It was a little stressful, but we’d rather win a close game than a blowout,” Kemezys said. “It just means more to fight through something like that. I’m really proud of the girls.”
Belleville East advances to the regional championship game against O’Fallon on Thursday with the 37-35 win.
The game plan for the Lancers was to take away anything in the middle with an active zone defense.
“We know that they like to get to the middle a lot more,” Kemezys said. “I thought our zone looked good against that and we were able to slow them down a little bit. It helped our zone that we were active and moving quickly.”
EHS changed its offensive approach, which led to the late scoring surge.
“We changed how we were screening to get the middle open a little more so they’d have to guard our shooters,” Happe said. “But just not getting started early enough was our Achilles heel.”
After shooting 4 of 20 from the field with nine turnovers in the first half, EHS found itself only down 18-14 at halftime.
Belleville East extended that lead to 30-22 after the third quarter.
While turnovers proved costly for both teams, missed shots and free throws doomed EHS. Both teams finished with 22 turnovers, but the Tigers shot 23 percent (9 of 39) from the field and 60 percent (14 of 23) from the free-throw line for the game.
The Lancers shot 38 percent (14 of 37) from the field and 35 percent (7 of 20) from the free-throw line. Three of the free throw makes came in the fourth quarter, with two being in the final minute.
Davis led Belleville Easy with 12 points. Taylor Smith scored 10 points, while Bierton added nine points.
EHS was led by Weller with 12 points, while Neath added seven points.
“I’m super proud of this senior group,” Happe said. “All of them contributed in different ways. They’re great kids and we’re going to miss them next year.”
