Arcola girls nip Tuscola, 58-57, win first regional since 2014-15

By Editor | February 26, 2025 |

Purple Riders snap 10-game losing streak to Tuscola Warriors

By Mike Monahan

TUSCOLA – Arcola’s all-time girls’ basketball player Kacie Sisk had quite a fourth quarter in last Thursday’s Class 1A regional championship game. Sisk scored 15 of her game-high 31 points in the final period, but it was the offensive rebound by Crystal Ramirez that prevented Tuscola from getting a possible game-winning shot off.

Arcola led 55-54 in the game that never saw a lead larger than seven points (15-8 Arcola with 1:36 left in the first. Sisk was fouled and made the first with 7.3 seconds left. She missed the second, but Ramirez grabbed the rebound and got back to Sisk, who was fouled with 4.6 seconds left. Sisk calmly made both free throws for a two possession lead and after a time-out the Lady Riders waited in a huddle on the court for the final seconds to tick off the clock. Tuscola’s Ava Boyer made a three-pointer at the buzzer to make the final margin of one, 58-57.

Arcola, who celebrated with numerous photos of the players with the plaque, had reached a regional championship game the last three years, but were on the short side of games to Salt Fork (41-36) last year, 47-39 to Tri-County in 2022-23 and 58-34 to Tri-County in 2021-22.

“It (winning the regional) means a lot because every year we have lost and finally we are on the flip side of that,” said Sisk. “You want to win the regional plaque, everyone does. It is just good to take it home.”

That they did with a fire truck escort taking them around town.

“I knew if she missed it was going to bounce off and I had to get the rebound,” said Ramirez. “ I was really happy with that. I was really crying. I can’t even describe the joy I felt (in last 4.3) . It is literally amazing. To win a regional means everything. Getting here and beating this team , our rival at their place. It is such a big deal to everyone in the town and us too.”

It is the 11th regional title in Arcola history. The Lady Riders played No. 1 ranked Effingham St. Anthony Tuesday in the sectional semifinals. The other sectional semifinals at Arcola’s Nancy Stiff Gymnasium was Decatur St. Teresa against Salt Fork.

“You look at the scoreboard and 57 is not the problem,” said first year Tuscola Coach and Arthur grad Michael Rosenbaum. “It is the 58. We have to do a better job getting stops and unfortunately it was not our night.”

The Lady Warriors were 7-9 in games decided by 10 points or less or just over half of their 31 games (finished 17-14).

“That is a lot of props to our girls,’ said Rosenbaum. “They always believed they could come back and get it done. It is an older group (five seniors) that has seen a lot of close games. So, they never flinched much.”

Rosenbaum said Sisk had some tough shots.

“We did a decent job of guarding her, but 31 points is tough to argue against,” said Rosenbaum. “She played a great game and props to her. We could not get enough stops as we needed down the stretch and we have to get that one rebound and unfortunately we didn’t get it.”

Arcola trailed 7-3 when they went on the longest run of the game, a 10-0 run(later tied by Arcola also) in a span of 2:43 which included back-to-back three-pointers by Sisk. She had eight of the 10 points with Lira scoring the other two for the largest lead of the game, 15-8 with 1:36 left in the opening quarter. Tuscola answered with the final seven points and all off turnovers that led to layups. Reese Davis scored the last points as time was running out to make it even for the first of five times.

Allison Pettry drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the half with Tuscola leading 27-24.

I don’t know if after halftime there was more than a two possession lead until the very end,” said an elated Arcola Coach Corey Roberts. “ It was just a bunch of back and forth. It was just an awesome basketball game and I am glad we are finally on the winning side of it.”

Rosenbaum was happy with the way both the first and second quarters ended and said, “We are at our best when we are running up and down the floor and turning it into a full-court game. At halftime we made getting the ball to Taylor Gordon kind of a point of emphasis. We have to feed her the ball even if she is double-teamed. She is a threat to score every time.”

The game featured 11 lead changes and Tuscola took its largest lead of the game 38-32 on a basket by Olivia Wallace. Tuscola led 40-38 after three quarters.

Arcola had a 17-7 run from the 2:19 mark (trailed 38-32 in the third) (three-pointer by Sisk) until there were just 50.6 seconds remaining, another three-pointer by Sisk, for a 49-45 Lady Rider lead. The game was tied at 52 on a basket by Gordon with 1:20 left when Sisk made a three-point play as Arcola took the lead for good.

“I think the key ws playing relaxed and having fun,” said Sisk. “When we are stressed out it just does not work out for us. I think we had good defense when it counted (Tuscola was 3-for-17 .176 from the 5:50 mark in the second until the 4:14 mark in the third or a span of 9:26). We played good offense and it was just a good all-around game.”

Roberts said, “It seemed like every time they made a shot we would come down and make a shot. We would make a shot and they would make a shot.”

Roberts said having Leal score six points was huge.

Leal said,”I have been having trouble with confidence, but today I knew what I had to do to help us win. When we were up four late it was exciting and thrilling because it has been since 2015.”

Ramirez had 10 points for Arcola, while Ava Simpson made three, three-pointers for her nine points.

Tuscola had three players in double digits. Gordon and Boyer led with 16 points (Gordon had 13 in the second half), while Pettry had 11.

Roberts, who is assisted by Travis Whisman and Craig VanDeveer, said, “I have been with this group of seniors for four years now and they have won a lot of games, but they have never been able to get over the hump. It makes me think of when we started Arianna Warren, Avery Kessler, Jacey Kessler, Mackenzie Thomas, Eva Hopkins and Kelsey Moore. All of those girls that started this; for these girls to finally win a regional is pretty cool.

I can’t say enough about what Ema Simpson did against Taylor Gordon. She had 16, but they were all hard. Nothing was easy. She had a hand or body on her at all times. I know they scored a lot of points, but I thought we played pretty good defense. Both teams were just making shots.

Now back home for the sectional game. That is pretty cool stuff. I thought we had a bigger crowd at Tuscola. I am just excited.”

Arcola 15 9 14 20–58

Tuscola 15 12 13 17–57

ARCOLA: Kiera Leal 3-0-6, Ema Simpson 0-2-2, Crystal Ramirez 4-2-10, Kacie Sisk 8-10-31, Ava Simpson 3-0-9, Hayden Gauna 0-0-0, Totals 18-14-58

TUSCOLA: Reese Davis 3-0-6, Ava Boyer 4-6-16, Allison Pettry 4-0-11, Olivia Wallace 2-0-4, Taylor Gordon 7-2-16, Emily Veach 2-0-4, Addy Revell, Sawyer Cleland 0-0-0, Totals 22-8-57

3-point goals: Arcola 8-18 .444 (Sisk 5, Ava Simpson 3) Tuscola;5-13 .385 (Pettry 3, Boyer 2). Free throws: Arcola 14-23 .609, Tuscola 8-13 .615 Field goals: Arcola 18-44 .409, Tuscola 22-49 .449. Rebounds: Arcola 30 (Sisk 7), Tuscola 31 (Gordon 9) . Turnovers: Arcola 16, Tuscola 13

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