Record run ends for Belleville East, but young team will be back to make another

If this were a team full of seniors, there might have been tears on the floor of CEFCU Arena at Illinois State University. As it was, this was not the last game the vast majority of Belleville East girls will play in their high school basketball careers.

“We’re going to have a chip on our shoulders for next year,” sophomore Lancers guard Hailey Gray said.

There will be no state championship for the Lancers this year. They lost 54-36 to a Nazareth Academy team that was making its fourth straight trip to the Class 4A IHSA Final Four. For the young Lancers, it was still a historic season, having gotten the farthest of any team in school history.

Indeed, it wasn’t even the final game of the day for the Lancers. East took care of Rolling Meadow, 43-30, in the third place game.

“It was a great learning experience today, and a great season for these girls,” Lancers coach Shardae King said.

Just like they did Monday night in the Class 4A supersectional against Homewood-Flossmoor, the Lancers (27-6) came out flat. Unlike last time, they couldn’t quite come all the way back to take a lead.

The Lancers were down 19-10 after one quarter, but then had their best three minutes of the game, scoring nine of the next 13 points to get within 23-19. After that, Nazareth senior star Stella Sakalas started to take over.

Sakalas, who will play at BYU next fall, had too much size and skill down low for Belleville East to handle. She scored a game-high 30 points.

“She’s an amazing player. We tried to double-team here, but she made plays,” King said. “I think what we learned is that we need to be mentally tough at all times. It’s not physical. We came out slow again. We have to be tougher to start games. We had a lot of experience this year playing taller players, but we were physical and able to bump their off their spots. But today, we didn’t execute with that.”

Sophomore forward Denaya Barthelheim is another of the young Lancers who believes what happened Friday afternoon will serve as a valuable experience later on. She led the Lancers with 14 points.

“It was a fun experience,” Barthelheim said. “We could have played better defense though.”

Gray, who had a terrific season as the team’s point guard, had a rough day from the floor, shooting just 2-for-16 and finishing with eight points. The Lancers were just 13-for-43 from the field and 1-for-14 from 3-point range.

Sakalas, on the other hand, was 13-for-17 from the floor.

“They’re a very good team,” Roadrunners coach Ed Stritzel said of the Lancers. “We were fortunate to hit some early shots and get some confidence against them. We’re going to get some rest and be ready for tomorrow.”

For Gray, whose mother coaches the team, it will be a summer of basketball camps and — hopefully — a bit more size and strength to go along with her considerable skills.

“You always want to work hard, and that’s what we’ll keep doing,” she said.

This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 5:53 PM.