Alton Girls Claim Fifth Straight Regional Basketball Title

Steen leads with 11 points, Lacey comes up with 10, Redbirds defeat Tigers in Edwardsville Girls Basketball Regional final 49-33.

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Feb 21, 2026 8:45 AM Feb 23, 2026 8:54 AM

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Edwardsville Tigers vs Alton Redbirds Girls Class 4A Edwardsville Regional championship game

EDWARDSVILLE – Ja’Kayla Steen led Alton with 11 points, while Kaylea Lacey went eight-for-10 from the free throw line for 10 points as the Redbirds held off a comeback attempt by Edwardsville early in the second half, and went on to a 49-33 win in the final of the IHSA Class 4A regional Friday night, Feb. 20, 2026, at Edwardsville’s Lucco-Jackson Gym.

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It’s the fifth consecutive regional title for the Redbirds, who finished third last year in the state at 34-3, and will meet Belleville East Tuesday in the Peoria Richwoods sectional. The destination of the game has not yet been finalized, but it likely will be in the Metro East.

The fifth straight regional title for Alton is something that the team and city take pride in, and first-year head coach Deiondre Riney is very aware of it.

“It’s good to win a regional,” Riney said. “I think this is the fifth straight for the program, so it’s good we can keep the tradition going.”

In a tight first quarter, the Redbirds reeled off a 5-0 run to take a 14-8 lead, but the Tigers hit back-to-back threes to start the second half. Alton righted itself with big plays offensively to take back control of the game.

“They made a run in the third,” Riney said. “It made us nervous, hitting back-to-back threes, and so, it was a game that we thought, especially with their home crowd, they could really get into it, and kind of make us nervous. But, I think somebody responded with a big bucket – I think it was a drop off – a big-time offensive rebound, something like that, that got us getting back.”

Edwardsville head girls coach Kaylie Gudka said about the game: "They just put a lot of pressure on us, and defensively, they sped us up. We couldn’t spread ourselves out. Defensively, I think there were some really good times. We had good spurts, good stops.

"I think we had a couple of what I call turkeys, three stops in a row. We had a couple of those, but you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Alton. They are an incredible team; they have multiple points of attack. They’re a fun team to watch, they’re a fun team to play against.”

Needless to say, it was a big win for the Redbirds, and the chance to move on to the sectional.

Riney said once again, from a toughness standpoint, his team did what they had to do against the Tigers.

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"Whether it’s free throws, offensive rebounds, whatever it takes from these kids to win," he said. "But, they just come out and compete every night.”

The Redbirds’ experience definitely showed in the key moments.

“This is a group of kids that never want to lose,” Riney said. “They compete in practice. We actually had an assistant principal ask us if it was OK that they were pushing each other in the walls, and competing that way. But they’re just really a tough group, and really trying to get the job done.”

Riney is looking ahead to facing the Lancers in the sectional against a program that’s turned things around in a short time.

“It’s big-time there, “ Riney said. “That program, they’ve turned it around, I think they got their first regional in 10 years, so they’re on the up. All respect to them; they’ve been competing all year, so it’s going to be a matter of two tough teams, and hopefully, we come up on top.”

The Tigers did get off to a good start, but the Redbirds, after their first quarter run to go ahead, never led Edwardsville to have a chance to climb back into the game.

Steen scored the first three points of the game on a free throw and basket, but Kenley Wise came right back with a three to tie things up 3-3. Kyrides Orr scored to put Alton back on top, but another three from Kennedy Gieseking and a Journey Anderson basket, put the Tigers up 8-5. The Redbirds then went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter, with Steen, Lacey, Madeliene Ducey, Aryanna Anthony, and Orr doing the damage to put the Redbirds up 14-8 after the first quarter.

Ducey hit a pair of threes, sandwiched around a three by Anderson, to extend the Alton lead to 20-11 at the start of the second quarter, with Steen pushing the lead to 22-11. After a Mia Semith basket, the Redbirds went on an 8-2 run for the remainder of the period to take a 30-15 lead at halftime. The Tigers cut the lead down to 30-21 on back-to-back threes from both Gabby Cook and Wise, but the Redbirds righted the ship, as Lacey scored twice to restore the lead to 34-21. From there, the Redbirds extended their advantage to 38-25 after three quarters.

In the fourth, the Tigers did their best to try to climb back into the game, but Alton held Edwardsville at bay, with Steen leading the way, extending their lead and finally prevailing 49-33 to take the regional title.

Steen led the way for the Redbirds with 11 points, while Lacey had 10 points, Ducey scored eight points, Orr came up with six points, Justice Haynes scored five points, Lauryn Wimbley and Anthony had four points each, and Ava Harris scored a single point. Anderson and Gieseking both led the Tigers with seven points each, while Wise hit for six points, Cook scored five points, Semith had four points, and Lainey McFarlin and Laila Roundtree had two points each.

The Redbirds go to 28-2, and meet the Lancers in the Richwoods sectional on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The game will likely be scheduled for somewhere in the Metro East.

The winner goes on to play the winner of Moline and Richwoods in the Sweet Sixteen game Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. The Richwood winner plays the winner of the Chicago Mother McAuley Catholic sectional winner in the Elite Eight game at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington Mar. 2 at 7 p.m., with the winner going 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.