Lady Musketeers Capture Second State Title

Have you ever heard the phrase it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog? I am not sure who the first person was to coin this phrase, but I am sure they had to be talking about the Eastern Lady Musketeers basketball team. The Lady M’s played a total of seven post-season basketball games to end the 2025-26 season, and in five of these games they were considered the underdog. In the last and final one not only were they considered the underdog they were also the “smaller” dog taking on a team that boasted 6 '1, 5' 11, and 5 ‘11 across their front line while Eastern came with the biggest player being 5' 10. This didn’t deter the Lady M’s one bit. Coach Drury was quoted saying “We knew we were facing a serious size advantage down low but we just took care of business down there”. Take care of business they did as they outscored the Golden Eagles in the paint 16-12, with a 35-26 advantage on the glass. Of those 35 rebounds, 15 of them were offensive rebounds leading to a 14-4 advantage on second chance points. The offense however started from the perimeter as junior Katie Hauner buried a three to open the game to give the Lady M’s a lead that they would never relinquish. They outscored the Golden Eagles 12-7 in the quarter. In the second period it was an Eastern 10-3 run before the media timeout that really put the pressure on Oak Hill, as Eastern pushed the lead to double digits at 22-10. The third quarter, which has been the achilles heel for the Lady M’s all season proved to be that once again. The Golden Eagles used an early run to cut what had been a fourteen point lead down to just seven, with just under six minutes to play. Coach Drury called a timeout to settle her team down and get them to refocus. The timeout worked as the Lady M’s picked back up their defensive intensity to hold onto a 34-27 lead at the end of the third. The fourth quarter saw the Lady M’s totally shut down the Golden Eagle offense as they held them for four minutes and thirty two seconds without scoring a point. The Eastern offense took advantage, scoring the Golden Eagles 16-5 in the fourth quarter to bring home their second State Title with a 50-32 win. Senior Addy Smith was the recipient of the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award, and award her coach won back in 2017. The team gives all the credit to each other and the community of the family like closeness they share. “Our community is like our family. They show up and support us in everything. That is so important and it is just what we needed as they really showed out”. This one was well deserved for the little town of Pekin as they have traveled a lot of miles the last two weekends to watch the team they love play this game of basketball. These girls reward them with another State Finals trophy to display in the hallway of Eastern (Pekin) Highschool. The Lady M’s were led by Sidney Burton with 16 points 12 rebounds, Addie Smith 13 points 6 rebounds, Katie Hauner 7 points 6 rebounds, Avery Smith 6 points 4 rebounds, and Bailee Robbins 8 points 2 rebounds. The Lady Musketeers finished the season with an overall 21-7 record.