Anderson Hits Free Throw With 0.5 Seconds Left In Regulation, Tigers Come From Behind To Defeat Blue Devils

Journey Anderson's late free throw clinched a thrilling 50-49 win for Edwardsville over Quincy in the IHSA Class 4A girls basketball semifinals.

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Feb 17, 2026 9:39 AM

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EDWARDSVILLE - Freshman Journey Anderson hit a clutch free throw with 0.5 seconds left in regulation to climax a dramatic fourth quarter comeback by Edwardsville, and give the Tigers a 50-49 win over Quincy in the semifinals of the IHSA Class 4A girls basketball regionals Monday night, Feb. 16, 2026, at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

The win advances the Tigers to Friday night's regional final against Alton, a 50-18 winner over Collinsville in the second game of the Monday doubleheader, for the right to move on to the Peoria Richwoods Sectional.

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It was Edwardsville's head coach, Kaylie Gudka's introduction to what the IHSA calls America's Original March Madness, and she loved every minute of it. Well, almost.

"Oh my gosh, it is so fun," Gudka said with a big smile after greeting her husband and family after the game. "It is so fun. I could not be more proud of this group. They came together, and they chipped away, and chipped away.

"We gave up a decent lead there, 10 points, and we just chipped away, chipped away, and got ourselves back in this game. I told them it's not going to take one big play, it's going to be taking multiple plays put together, multiple stops put together to get this done, and they did just that."

It's something Edwardsville had done before this season, and Gudka knew the Tigers were capable of roaring back to tie, and possibly win.

"I knew we had it in us," Gudka said. "We've done it before, we'll do it again, I know we had it, and then Kennedy Gieseking with two huge shots at the end to get us back in the lead. And then, Journey, with a huge free throw at the end. We'll have to work on her miss, hitting the rim," she said with a laugh, "but at the end of the day, I couldn't ask for a better squad."

Gudka was already looking forward to Friday night's final and thought the game would be fun as well.

"It's a fun one," Gudka said. "You know, I have to give a lot of credit to Alton. They're a great team. Last time, we put a really great half together; we're ready to put a whole game together."

The Blue Devils played an excellent game, and Gudka spared a thought for Quincy.

Gudka said she had to give so much credit to Quincy; "they played hard, they played physical. It was just such an awesome game. It was a great four-five matchup, and that's what we wanted out of tonight, is a great four-five matchup. We couldn't be more happy with how our girls came and approached this, on our home floor. We couldn't be happier."

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Coming from Colorado and Utah, it was Gudka's first taste of Illinois March Madness, and she loved it.

"Oh, it's awesome. It's great," Gudka said with a smile. Especially when you're on the winning side, I couldn't be more thankful."

Khloe Nicolson started the Blue Devils off with a basket to give Quincy the early lead, but Gieseking came right back with the first of her five threes on the night, and Mia Semith followed up with a basket to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead. Cameron Byquist and Mis Ellefritz came right back to score and give the Blue Devils the lead back at 6-5, and another basket from Nicholson gave Quincy an 8-5 lead after the first quarter.

A three from Jada Brown upped the lead to 11-5 at the start of the second quarter, then a basket from Byquist gave Quincy a 13-5 lead. The Tigers did come within 15-9, but after that, Quincy went on an 11-2 run to up the lead to 24-11, led by Byquist, Ellefritz, and Nicolson. Gieseking hit another three, and Laila Roundtree scored to cut the lead to 24-14, but the Blue Devils went into the interval leading 29-19 after Gieseking hit another three before the break.

Anderson hit a three to start the second half off well for the Tigers, making it 29-22, but the Devils answered with a 5-0 run to extend the lead to 34-22. Free throws from Semith and a Gabby Cook basket cut the lead to 34-27, with the Devils again responding with a three from Bynum to up the lead to 37-27. Again, the Tigers fought back, and cut the lead to 41-33 after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Quincy started out by expanding the edge to 45-35, and a pair of free throws by Nicholson gave the Devils a 49-35 lead. Gieseking and Cook started the comeback with baskets that made it 49-39, then Anderson scored, and Gieseking hit a critical three-pointer to cut the lead to 49-44. Semith then hit a pair of free throws, and Gieseking hit a clutch three, her fifth of the game, to tie things up at 49-49 with 37,3 seconds left.

After a timeout by Quincy, the Tigers got the stop and the ball back, and set up a play. Anderson drove the baseline and just missed a shot at the buzzer, but Myley Longcor was called for a foul on the play. After the officials put 0.5 seconds back on the clock, Anderson hit the front end of two shots, but deliberately missed the second; the ball didn't hit the rim, giving the ball back to Quincy. A long shot fell way short of the mark, allowing the Tigers to come away with the 50-49 win.

Anderson and Gieseking both had 15 points each to lead Edwardsville, while Semith had 14 points, Cook had four points, and Roundtree scored two points. Nicolson led Quincy with 13 points, while Longcor, who played an excellent game, and Bynum had 12 points each, Brown hit for 10 points, and Madelyn Hamby scored two points.

The Blue Devils end their season at 22-9, while the Tigers go to 14-14, and meet the Redbirds in the regional final Friday night in Edwardsville at 6 p.m. The winner plays the winner of the Belleville West regional, either Belleville East or O'Fallon, in a Richwoods sectional semifinal Feb. 24 in a 6 p.m. start at a neutral site to be announced.

The sectional final is set for Feb. 26 at Richwoods, with the winner meeting the sectional winner from Chicago Mother McAuley Catholic at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Mar. 2. The winner goes to the state finals Mar. 6-7 at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.