Redbirds Defeat Edwardsville To Remain Perfect In Conference

ALTON – Thursday night saw a massive Southwestern Conference showdown at Alton High School.

The Lady Redbirds hosted the Edwardsville Tigers and won 67-43.

The Tigers, without starter Kaylee Hauschild, who sustained an injury on Saturday, December 6, in a 49-39 SWIC Shootout loss to Civic Memorial, dropped to 4-4 on the season and 2-1 in the SWC.

“When you lose a kid, that’s literally the biggest kid on the floor, strong, can make all those plays, it’s just tough,” Alton head coach Deiondre Riney said, who coached Hauschild at the AAU level.

“They came out, they fought, they tried to get things done, but you need a brute force like that,” he continued. “Obviously, a win’s a win, but you always want to play against the best.”

The Redbirds improved to 7-1 and 2-0 in the conference.

Edwardsville jumped out to a 4-2 lead thanks to Mia Semith’s basket and two free throws from Kennedy Gieseking, but a basket from Kaylea Lacey and a three-point play from Madeline Ducey got Alton going, giving it the lead at 7-4, a lead it would never lose.

The Redbirds closed the first quarter on an 8-2 run and led 20-12. They widened the margin to 36-22 at halftime.

While Edwardsville was without a player due to injury, Alton returned one.

Justice Haynes, a contributing starter in last year’s state run team, made her season debut against the Tigers off the bench.

“Getting Justice back was a huge spark for us; it was good. Went a little deeper [on the bench] than we usually do,” Riney said.

Which is currently a good problem to have. The Redbirds have eight or nine girls who could make a case for being a starter.

“That’s the biggest thing,” Riney continued. “Lauryn Wimbley comes off the bench and gives us 10. You have a girl who started last year, Justice, who comes in and does some things. And we have another senior, Ava Harris, who shows up and works hard every day. She comes in and just gives us some energy, gets us some rebounds. You just want to keep encouraging kids to show up, work hard, and keep competing.”

That competition is leading to some tough decisions for the coaching staff, who are still trying to fine-tune lineups and rotations.

“I think probably at least four or five games,” Riney said on trying to figure those things out. “We’ve got six or so games left this year, hopefully by then we know what we look like.”

Alton opened the second half on an 8-3 run, forcing Edwardsville into a full timeout with 5:22 to go in the third quarter. The Redbirds led 52-35 after three.

Lacey led all scorers on the night with 22 points. Ja’Kayla Steen added 12 points, and Wimbley had 10 off the bench. Kyridas Orr added seven points, and Ducey had five. In total, 10 different Redbirds put points on the board.

Edwardsville was led by Gieseking with 11 points and Semith with 10.

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