NORMAL — I was chatting with Carterville girls basketball coach Matt Crain this weekend at the girls state basketball tournament, and we were trying to remember the last team (prior to the Lady Lions) from the south not named Nashville or Okawville to win a trophy. And we couldn’t come up with an answer.
So I started digging.
The answer I came up with West Frankfort’s 4th place finish in 1998. Now that answer depends on what you consider “south”.
Ain’t going down that rabbit hole.
Going back through the 43 years of the girls state basketball tournament results on the IHSA website, teams from the 618 have won 45 trophies. (And yes, that includes teams from the Metro East).
That’s an average of a little more than one trophy per year.
When you take into consideration three years of single class play, 27 years of two classes and now 14 years of four classes, there have been 113 girls state tournaments since starting in 1977. That makes a total of 452 available trophies.
618 teams have won only 10 percent of the girls basketball trophies. Of the 113 tournament champions, only eight are from the 618.
Here are some other interesting stats:
*18 schools have won those 45 trophies
*8 schools have won multiple trophies
*Nashville and East St. Louis Lincoln have won the most (7), Okawville is next (6)
*Nashville, Okawville, Breese Central and Carlyle have combined to win 20 of the 45 trophies and 6 of the 8 championships
While it’s probably a bit much to call a 618 girls basketball trophy rare, it is at least not the norm, and makes what Crain’s Lady Lions did this weekend even more of an accomplishment.
It also shines a brighter light on the success and longevity of the programs at Nashville and Okawville, two schools separated by 15 miles in Washington County.
Here is the full list of trophy winners:
Centralia 1977 (4th)
ESL Lincoln 1979 (2nd)
Benton 1980A (1st)
ESL Lincoln 1980AA (1st)
Eldorado 1981A (4th)
Massac Co. 1982A (2nd)
ESL Lincoln 1982AA (2nd)
Eldorado 1984A (3rd)
Cairo 1985A (3rd)
Massac Co. 1986A (2nd)
ESL Lincoln 1986AA (3rd)
McLeansboro 1987A (3rd)
Massac Co. 1987AA (2nd)
Nashville 1989A (3rd)
Nashville 1990A (2nd)
ESL Lincoln 1990AA (3rd)
ESL Lincoln 1991AA (2nd)
Okawville 1993A (2nd)
Okawville 1994A (1st)
Carlyle 1995A (2nd)
Carlyle 1996A (1st)
Carlyle 1997A (1st)
West Frankfort 1998A (4th)
ESL Lincoln 1998AA (2nd)
Okawville 1999A (3rd)
Okawville 2000A (1st)
Nashville 2002A (4th)
Okawville 2003A (4th)
Althoff 2003AA (4th)
Althoff 2005A (3rd)
Okawville 2006A (2nd)
Althoff 2006AA (2nd)
Breese Central 2007A (1st)
Nashville 2009 2A (3rd)
Olney 2009 2A (4th)
Nashville 2010 2A (3rd)
Nashville 2011 2A (4th)
Breese Central 2012 2A (2nd)
Edwardsville 2012 4A (2nd)
Nashville 2013 2A (1st)
Breese Central 2015 2A (2nd)
Highland 2016 3A (3rd)
Lebanon 2018 1A (3rd)
Breese Central 2018 3A (4th)
Carterville 2020 2A (3rd)
BY SCHOOL:
ESL Lincoln 7
Nashville 7
Okawville 6
Breese Central 4
Althoff 3
Carlyle 3
Massac Co. 3
Eldorado 2
Centralia 1
Benton 1
Cairo 1
McLeansboro 1
West Frankfort 1
Olney 1
Edwardsville 1
Highland 1
Lebanon 1
Carterville 1
BY PLACE:
Championship 8
Runner Up 15
3rd Place 13
4th Place 9
Darren Kinnard
darren.kinnard@mywithersradio.com