Highland girls basketball clinches MVC championship with road win vs. Civic Memorial
On Thursday Feb. 9, senior guard Grace Wilke gave the Highland Lady Bulldogs girls basketball team just the drive they needed to get control of the always-tough Civic Memorial Eagles.
Highland held just a four-point lead after the first quarter, but a 10-0 run kickstarted by a pair of Wilke 3-pointers pushed HHS to a 23-9 edge and the Lady Bulldogs ultimately rolled to a 47-35 victory at Civic Memorial on the Eagles’ Senior Night.
It was a sweet ending to the 2022-23 regular season as Highland clinched the Mississippi Valley Conference Championship one year after going 8-24. This was the team’s first conference title since the 2014-15 season.
The Lady Bulldogs improved to 22-7 overall while finishing MVC play at 9-1.
“It feels great (to win it),” Wilke said. “We were just talking about it (in the locker room) where not much was expected of us and that we would kind of roll over when he season began, but to win the MVC is very exciting.”
HHS coach Clint Hamilton was also glad to see his club close out the season with an MVC title.
“That was the girls’ goal coming into it (the season) and I’m glad we can do it for the seniors for sure, but hopefully set a goal for those younger kids that we can do this every year,” Hamilton said.
The Lady Bulldogs battled through a physical first quarter and held just a 13-9 lead. But in the second quarter, Wilke got the offense going with a pair of triples that helped push HHS to a 19-point second quarter and a commanding 32-13 halftime cushion.
“That (second quarter run) was huge,” Wilke said. “I felt like they stepped down a little bit and that made us get more momentum which led us to the later part of the game.”
Overall, Wilke had another big game for HHS, pumping in a game-high 22 points.
“Grace making those two threes kind of helped get us going. And that second one was big as we made some shots and we dug in and we got some stops, rebounded really well and we won the 50-50 balls,” Hamilton said.
Civic Memorial (13-18, 5-5) turned up its defensive intensity in the fourth quarter. The Eagles used a 6-0 run capped by an Olivia Durbin driving bucket to cut the Highland lead to 41-31 with 3:43 left.
However, the Eagles could not get any closer as the Lady Bulldogs surrendered just two baskets down the stretch.
Civic Memorial coach Mike Arbuthnot knew beating HHS would be a tall order, but he was still pleased with his club’s late comeback.
“We came back and fought in the second half and I like the way the kids played in the second half and we played hard,” Arbuthnot said. “Congratulations to Highland, they’ve got a good ballclub and they won the conference and they deserve it.”
Durbin led CM with 10 points.
Highland now ready for postseason
Next up for both teams is the IHSA Class 3A regional tournament which starts Saturday, Feb. 11. Top-seeded Highland will host the regional and begin play with a semifinal match-up Monday against the winner of Saturday’s Jerseyville-Triad first round game.
“I have a lot of confidence in my team we can go a long way (in the regionals),” Wilke said.
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 12:27 AM.