Mia Semith Leads Tigers With 19 Points In Top-Notch Senior Night Performance

Edwardsville Tigers defeat Granite City 56-33 in regular season finale, celebrating their seniors with special recognition before the game.

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Feb 13, 2026 9:28 AM Feb 13, 2026 2:59 PM

Listen to the story

The Tigers' Mia Semith. EDWARDSVILLE - Guard Mia Semith led Edwardsville with 19 points in a sensational performance on Senior Night as the Tigers jumped out to an early lead and took a 56-33 win over Granite City in the regular season finale for both teams Thursday night, Feb. 12, 2026, at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

In the annual pregame ceremonies, the Edwardsville seniors - Semith, Genny Burroughs, Lainey McFarlin, and Gabby Cook - and their families were introduced, saluted, and thanked for their contributions to the program, and in a very nice touch, also presented gifts to the Warriors seniors - Emiyah Giles, Alexis Ruiz, Megan Sykes, Taliyah Sykes, and Avery Wallace - who were all playing in their final regular season games.

Get The Latest News!

Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.

In the game, Edwardsville jumped out to an early lead and kept expanding on it, holding off the Warriors, one of the area's most improved teams this season, in an excellent team contest.

Edwardsville head coach Kaylie Gudka said she gives a lot of kudos to Granite on their performance.

"They came out ready to play, they're a really tough team, they're a really great squad, the coach (Ron Twichell) is really awesome. I really appreciate him. At the end of the day, I really can't be more thankful for the senior class that we have.

"It's really cool; I think it's really special to Lainey. She gets released (coming off a knee injury that kept her out most of the season), and able to play tonight. She got some minutes on her senior night, and not only gets minutes, but also gets solid minutes, scoring.

"Every single senior scored tonight, which is awesome, and it's huge. I'm so thankful for this senior group; they're very special to me. They mean the world to me, and it's very special coming in as a head coach for a bunch of seniors that have had quite a few different coaches come through the program."

All kidding aside, the Tigers are ready to go for the postseason and will be hosting a regional next week, starting on Monday.

"I'm really excited," Gudka said with a big smile. "We have a really great matchup on Monday against Quincy. It's time to lock in and prepare for them. They're a really good team, a really well-coached team. I'm really excited for this matchup, and we really have the squad to do it. We've shown improvement throughout this whole year. We've had a really tough schedule that's really prepared us for this moment. So, I couldn't be more excited to get going at home on Monday."

Looking back at the entire regular season, Gudka credited her players for putting in the solid work and overcoming an injury bug to achieve despite a final 13-14 regular season record.

"We have put in a ton and ton of time and effort," Gudka said. "We have unfortunately had too many injuries. We've been able to build on a lot this year, and I can't be prouder of these girls for building day after day on things we needed improvement on. But also building on things we do really well, and tonight was a testament to that. We were shooting the ball really well. I couldn't be more excited."

Article continues after sponsor message

Limited spots available - advertise with us today!

Let us Bring the Party to You!

Shop Local

Riverbend Axe & Games

Get This Deal →

The Warriors played and worked hard for the entire 32 minutes, a trademark of a Granite City sporting team.

Granite City head girls basketball coach Ron Twichell said: "I'm proud of the girls, and even tonight, we battled; we just didn't shoot the ball well, but we competed. As long as we compete, I'm happy." More from Twichell on Granite City's 20-win season is here.

Semith hit a three-pointer to get things started, giving the Tigers the early advantage, but a free throw by Tyhlee Simms and a basket by Taliyah Sykes tied the game at 3-3. After a basket by Cook, Malone Grady drilled a three to give Granite a 6-5 lead, only to see Semith score to give Edwardsville the lead back at 7-6 at quarter time.

Another three from Semith opened up a 10-6 Tiger lead at the start of the second quarter, which triggered an 8-0 Edwardsville run to make the score 15-6. A long-distance basket by Megan Sykes cut the lead to 15-8, but McFarlin, who played well in her comeback game, led a late charge that helped put the Tigers up 24-12 at halftime.

An early three-pointer by Semith at the start of the third upped the Edwardsville lead to 27-12, but a three-pointer from Taliyah Sykes and a basket from Simms cut the lead to 27-17. Kenley Wise nailed a three, and from there, the Tigers got baskets from Semith and Journey Anderson to take a 40-23 lead after three quarters. In the final period, Granite, led by Simms, kept coming after the Tigers, but Semith, McFarlin, and Anderson had the responses as Edwardsville pulled away and took the 56-33 win.

Semith led the Tigers with 19 points, while both Anderson and McFarlin hit for eight points each, Wise had six points, Kennedy Gieseking scored five points, Cook had four points, Burroughs scored two points, and Laila Roundtree scored one point. Malone Grady led Granite with 12 points, while Simms hit for nine points, Taliyah Sykes scored seven points, Jailyn Rae Woods had three points, and Megan Sykes had two points.

Edwardsville winds up the regular season 13-14, and meets Quincy in the semifinals of their own IHSA Class 4A regional Monday night at 6 p.m., then top-seeded Alton plays Collinsville at 7:30 p.m. The two winners play for the championship Friday night at 6 p.m.

Granite City concludes its regular season at 20-9, and were seeded seventh in the regional. They'll meet ninth-seed West Saturday night at 7 p.m at Granite City Memorial Gym, with the winner going against second seed Belleville East Monday night at 6 p.m. The winner will play against the winner of the game between O'Fallon and Pekin, who play each other Monday at 7:30 p.m., in the final Thursday night at 6 p.m.

The winners of the West and Edwardsville regionals will meet each other in the Peoria Richwoods sectional semifinal on Feb. 24 at a neutral site in the Metro-East area in a 6 p.m. tip-off, the winner advancing to the Sweet Sixteen sectional final Feb. 26 at Richwoods at 6 p.m. against the winner of either the Minooka or East Moline United regional winner.

The Richwoods winner meets the Chicago Mother McAuley Catholic sectional winner in the Elite Eight super-sectional game at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington Mar. 2 at 7 p.m., with the winner going to the state finals at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal Mar. 5-7.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.