Belleville East’s rise fueled by mother on the bench, daughter at the point
Shardae King and Hailey Gray sat together on Wednesday night talking to a reporter when King said, casually, “There are going to be a lot of people who don’t know we’re mother-daughter, aren’t there?”
That went for this reporter at the start of a conversation with King about one of her star players on the Belleville East girls basketball team she coaches, who happens to be the sophomore Gray.
While that fact may not be well known to some right now, it should be more so in the future as the Lancers keep ascending the state hoops scene. King is a first-year coach with the Lancers, and Gray is a sophomore co-captain of a team that entered Thursday night’s Class 4A regional championship against O’Fallon with a 25-5 record.
Before anyone wonders if Gray got any special treatment in being named a co-captain by Mom at such a young age, the numbers speak for themselves: Gray is averaging a team-leading 15.3 points per game as a starting point guard and is already starting to receive some recruiting interest from big-name colleges.
Her strong leadership and discipline traits are also exemplified by a 4.8 grade-point average.
“I don’t discriminate when it comes to seniority. If you’re speaking up, if your leadership is there, it has no name on it, whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior,” said King, who took the last name of her husband when she remarried. “If you’re doing that consistently, then that’s what title you’re going to get.”
King is in her second year as a P.E. teacher in the Belleville school district and succeeded Amanda Kemezys this season as head coach. Her daughter was a good player on last season’s 20-12 team but has taken her game to a higher level this year. Taking it to the next level, in college, is her goal. But there remains a lot of basketball to be played first at Belleville East.
“It’s been a good season, but we want more,” Gray said. “We have a young team, but we’re hungry for success. We started the season really racing, but we got a little lazy for a while. I think we aren’t that way anymore.”
The arduous IHSA playoff format means it’s a long way to a potential state title game, but don’t sleep on the Lancers. In addition to Gray, fellow sophomore and co-captain Ramiyah Young is averaging 13 points a game, and another sophomore, Denaya Bartelheim, averages 10.
Gray, though, is the floor general and probably the team’s vocal leader. Did she worry about speaking up to juniors and seniors after getting the “C”?
“I did a little. But I think it’s really just how you talk to people, and the tone that you give them,” said Gray, who hopes to become a medical doctor. “So, they’ll receive it how you want them to receive it. People are so used to seniority, and we’re coming as a younger group, trying to lead everyone. As time went on, I just figured out how I had to come at certain people, and we have good chemistry now.”
King, who had previously coached at her alma mater, East St. Louis, wasn’t sure she wanted to coach again when she started working in the Belleville district. But she came to admit the chance to coach her daughter was one she shouldn’t pass up.
“I thought I was done, but you can’t turn away from what God has planned for you,” King said. “The joy that I get to know that I get to go through this process with her is a blessing. But before I did this, we had a conversation. She knows how mom is, how passionate mom is. She knew my expectations. She is my child, but I treat all my girls like they’re my own.”
Gray’s stock with recruiters went up this past summer when she excelled in a couple of basketball camps. Her dribbling and shooting skills are strong, and she’s getting better as a playmaker. She is just 5-foot-6 and hopes to grow more before she leaves Belleville East. If not?
“It’ll just motivate me, even if I am just this height for the rest of my life,” Gray said. “I can get it done just as the other, taller person.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 5:30 AM.