Blade makes history with Tigers’ win over West

Belleville West did its best to put the making of Illinois high school athletic history off for another day.

But Edwardsville tightened its defense and rallied for 37 second-half points to defeat the Maroons, 51-22 Thursday night. In doing so, the Tigers delivered Lori Blade her 600th career win as a girls basketball coach.

Blade became just the 14th girls basketball coach to achieve that milestone, according to Illinois High School Association records.

Having reached the same milestone as a softball coach with a win over Belleville East last May, Blade is now the only coach in Illinois to achieve 600 wins in two sports.

Her all-time basketball record, which include eight years at Carrollton High School, is 600-82. She’s won two state championships, both at Carrollton, and placed second twice.

"No, it's not something you ever think will happen," said Blade, who is her 14th season at Edwardsville. "To be honest when I first started I wanted to go to the collegiate level and that was always something, but it just didn't fit. The experience I've had with this sport was good, I've been happy and I couldn't ask for more."

Players celebrated with basketball-shaped cookies after the game. A few spritzed Blade from their water bottles.

"(Assistant coach Donna) Farley told us we just needed to get it done and over with and celebrate with Coach Blade and put it behind us," said junior Makenzie Silvey. "We were really glad to get it for her tonight. We wanted to give her a Gatorade shower, but we knew she'd get mad at us if we did it."

Dorothy Gaters of Chicago (Marshall) holds the all-time record for wins by an Illinois basketball coach. She remains active with a record of 1,024-186. With 19 more wins this the regular season and playoffs, Blade could move as high as No. 11 on the all-time wins list.

Edwardsville improved to 6-1 with the victory while Belleville West fell to 4-3.

Key Moments

The Maroons kept it close early and entered halftime down just 14-12. But West didn't score in the second half until freshman Chamya Darough hit a short jumper at the 3:37 mark. By that time, Edwardsville had scored nine points unanswered to take command.

Junior Jamie Adams closed out the third quarter for West with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 28-17, but Edwardsville rallied again with a 12-point run to start the fourth. Criste'on Waters scored seven of her 11 points during the run.

"I'm sure they didn't like the fact that they had only 14 points on the board and they really kicked it up a notch in the second half," said first-year West coach Seth Garrett. "We're young and we're learning, but when they did that to us, it really put it back on our heals. We never really got out of that mode."

The Maroons scored just 10 points in the second half after struggling to make shots fall in the first two quarters.

"We were down two at the half when we really could have been up six,” Garrett said. “We didn't execute everything we wanted to in the first half, but we did what we wanted to do. Down two points at the half? Are you kidding me? I'll take that against them anytime."

Key Performers

Sophomore Rachel Pranger scored a game-high 12 points to go with Waters' 11. Silvey and Kate Martin each had nine points.

For Belleville West, Darough had 11.

What's Next

Edwardsville travels to Normal Saturday to take on Community West High School. The Maroons play at Belleville East Tuesday at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Blade makes history with Tigers’ win over West."