TRYOY, Ill. – Six days ago, in Civic Memorial’s regular-season finale, the Eagles narrowly beat the Highland Bulldogs, winning via the game’s final possession 49-47.
It capped off a 24-6 regular-season campaign and a Mississippi Valley Conference title by going 10-0.
The Eagles got a quick, yet expected rematch against the Bulldogs Thursday night in the IHSA Class 3A Olney (Richland County) Regional championship game, played at Triad High School.
The game, which moved South from Olney, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Bethalto and a bit shorter two-hour drive from Highland, was played at Triad, a half-hour drive for CM and a mere 15 minutes for Highland.
It saw the Eagles get out to a hot start and eventually win the game 43-25, winning their first regional title since the 2021-22 season in which CM placed fourth at the state tournament under head coach Mike Arbuthnot.
Now head coach Jeff Durbin was assistant at the time. Thursday was his first regional championship at the helm.
“I’m going to be honest. It’s all about the kids,” Durbin said humbly. “Obviously, I enjoy it, I love it, but I love it more for them than me. That’s why I always say we, we, we. You’ll never hear me say ‘I’. I give all credit to the kids.”
Thursday’s game was nothing like the last meeting between CM and Highland. On Feb. 14, the Eagles led 25-20 after the first half and would be outscored 27-25 in the second half.
For the regional title, CM got off to a hot start and led 6-2. They boosted that lead to 15-4 at the end of the first quarter, closing the frame on a 9-0 run.
The Eagles opened the second quarter on a 6-1 run thanks to three-pointers from Allie Truetzschler and Marlee Durbin to make it 21-5. CM later led 25-9 at halftime.
“I admit it, I kept it too vanilla last time we played [Highland], knowing that we’d probably see them again, and it almost cost us,” Durbin said. “I knew we were going to have a bunch of new stuff for them. I said, if we can get to 40 points, we win this game, and we did. I knew our defense was going to show up tonight. What did they have at halftime? Nine points? That’s pretty impressive and that’s all credit to these girls playing hard on defense.”
Highland only got within 15 early in the fourth quarter after a three from Sophie Schroeder and another basket to make it 35-20.
CM outscored the Bulldogs18-16 in the second half to win. Highland had only been held to 25 or fewer points twice this season. Breese Central beat them 56-23 on Nov. 27 and Quincy Notre Dame won a low-scoring affair 33-19 on Dec. 30.
The Bulldogs ended the season losing three of their last four. Meanwhile, the in-stride Eagles won their eighth in a row.
“I think our best two practices of the year were the past two days,” Durbin said. “So, I knew we were going to be ready to go. I knew there would be a little bit of nerves, but I knew our defense was going to show up.”
Thursday was CM’s ninth regional title in program history, all of them coming since the 2012-13 season during the Jonathan Denney era. He coached the Eagles for 13 seasons with a 286-118 overall record, six regional titles, and two sectional titles.
The past two seasons the Eagles went out in the regional semifinals, losing to Centralia last season and Waterloo the year before that. Highland was chasing a third straight regional plaque.
“I told them in the huddle, you guys got to soak this up,” Durbin said. “Last two years we’ve been one and done. [Highland] was going for three in a row. It ain’t easy. You can’t overlook any team.”
The Eagles had one goal in mind, to get back to their home gym.
CM hosts the sectional, with the semifinals being played on Tuesday, Feb. 25 and the championship on Thursday, Feb. 27. The Eagles await the winner between No. 2-seeded Marion (19-8) and No. 3 Freeburg (18-13) in Tuesday’s second semifinal of the night at 7:30 p.m.
“They wanted another home game bad,” Durbin said. “They laid it all out on the line tonight.”
A well-balanced scoring night saw Marlee Durbin lead the Eagles with 11 points. Isabelle Edwards had 10 points, Avery Huddleston had nine, Truetzschler had eight, and Marley Ogden had five.
The Eagles improved to 26-6 on the season.
Highland was led in scoring by Schroeder with eight, Jordan Bircher with six, and Payton Frey with five. The Bulldogs’ season ends at 15-17, their first season below .500 since 2021-22.
