Stillwater Senior Living Female Athletes Of Month: Granite City Girls Basketball Shows Major Improvement This Season

GRANITE CITY — The Granite City girls basketball team has made a notable turnaround in the 2025-2026 season under head coach Ron Twichell, winning 16 of their first 22 games.

The team members who are Stillwater Senior Living Female Athletes of the Month are aiming to reach the 20-win mark by the end of the campaign.

The Granite City girls face 15-10 Jersey at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in the Carrollton Invitational Tournament.

Granite City’s varsity roster includes Taliyah Sykes, Keelia Walker, Malone Grady, Tyhlee Simms, Alexis Ruiz, Megan Sykes, Jailynn Rae Woods, Lhalionie Douglas, Avery Wallace and Jada Wright.

The team’s progress is a significant improvement from recent seasons, having posted records of 12-18 in 2024-2025, a 2-25 mark in 2023-2024, and 5-23 in 2022-2023. Coach Twichell attributed the success to the players’ cohesion and balanced scoring.

“They are just sticking together," Coach Twichell said. "We have had a different leading scorer every night. It has just been a big positive this season."

Twichell said his girls had a good summer in 2025.

"I had a good feeling about things, but I didn’t know until the season started how we would be," he said. "We still have a lot of games left, but hopefully we will keep climbing.”

The Granite City girls continue to build on their momentum as they enter the latter part of the season with hopes of additional success.

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