Article and photos by T Ray Henry
On Monday, February 16th, the Marshall High School girls basketball team traveled to Teutopolis High School to play in the IHSA Class 2A regional semifinal against the state’s number 5 team and top-seeded host school Teutopolis. Marshall secured their place in the regional semifinal by defeating Shelbyville on Saturday in the regional quarterfinal round to play for the chance to be one of only 64 teams still standing in the Class 2A state tournament.
Facing the Lions in the regional semifinal was a Teutopolis squad whose only losses to schools in the same class level this year came to the numbers 1, 2, and 4 ranked squads in the state (Nashville, Breese Central, and Effingham, who just this season dropped down to Class 2A from 3A).
From the start, it wasn’t going to be Marshall’s night as the Lions fell in the semifinal round to the host school to end their season with a record of 15-12. Marlee Heighton led the Lions with 10 points. Lynn Welborn added 5, McKenzie Davis 4, Harper Richardson 2, and Addy Ross 1.
Regardless of the outcome of this contest and how their season ended, Marshall has plenty to be proud of this year. The 2025-2026 squad came into the season with attainable goals: to finish with a better record than records in each of the previous 3 seasons, to be competitive in their games, to finish in the LIC Tournament higher than their original seeding, and finally, to send this year’s senior class out with lasting memories of their time together as a team.
Looking back on the year, which began with the Lions starting out 2-4, losing their first three straight conference games, Marshall went to the Dieterich Holiday Tournament between Christmas and New Year’s hoping to right the ship after digging themselves a deep hole to start the conference slate. Bringing home a fourth-place finish in the competitive tournament propelled the Lions into the new year with a fresh outlook. In their first game of 2026, Marshall traveled to Sullivan to play the Top 25-ranked Lady Indians in a non-conference game. This year’s senior basketball players wanted to play Sullivan ever since the Lions were one win short of a state finals trip when they were in the 8th grade playing as Cubs. The team that beat them and ended their dream of playing in the state finals four years ago? Sullivan. In a rematch that took 4 years to put together, Marshall went into Sullivan’s gym, and on a rainy and stormy night, Marshall came away with a thrilling 59-58 win while playing their best basketball of the season up to that point in the campaign.
The win over Sullivan began their longest winning streak of the season, during which the Lions also defeated Terre Haute North, a school with an enrollment of over four times the size of Marshall’s, and Richland County, another larger school that was ahead of Marshall by double digits twice in the game before the Lions came storming back to win by 3 points. A win the following night over Casey-Westfield on Clark County’s Mega Night put the Lions in position to compete in the conference tournament, which started the next day. Seeded 7th in the LIC Tournament, Marshall finished as runner-up of the consolation bracket, avenging an earlier defeat by taking down Lawrenceville in the bracket’s semifinal round to advance to the championship game.
In perhaps the biggest game of the regular season, Marshall hosted Robinson on Senior Night in front of a packed house inside McNary Gymnasium. In three prior seasons, Marshall was 0-6 against the Lady Maroons, losing twice each season, once during the Thanksgiving tournament and again during the regular season. This time, the Lady Lions dictated the pace of play and went toe-to-toe with the Lady Maroons, refusing to back down from the physical play. With these Lady Lions playing inspired basketball on Senior Night in front of the largest home crowd of the season, Marshall came away with a 53-45 victory to send the senior class out winners on their special night.
For our seniors Lynn Welborn, Marlee Heighton, Ella Mattas, Addy Ross, Caitlyn Hilliard, and Abbie Thompson, they take away many memories as they have played their final high school basketball game for Marshall High School, and they all move onto the spring season to run track or play softball, or in Ella Mattas’ case, run track and play softball at the same time. This season, Lynn Welborn and Marlee Heighton both reached the 1,000-career points plateau, Welborn during the Holiday tournament in Dieterich and Heighton during the last game of the regular season versus Newton.
For those players returning next year, important roles are open for the taking. Scoring, rebounding, ballhandling, defensive stoppers – all vital roles to the team’s future success – are there waiting to be assumed by returning and incoming players. With Harper Richardson, McKenzie Davis, Lilly Ross among those underclassmen who played the most minutes at the varsity level, they will be joined by Nya Engledow, Kyla Gustafson, Aubree Shaffer, Macy Roberts, Aria Ogle, and two players who will be returning from injuries, Caroline Crumrin and Karsyn Johnson, both of whom will be juniors next year. Shooter Jayden Jones will also be returning for her senior year. Looking forward, next year’s Lions will have similar goals as they try to replace the six seniors from this year’s squad.
Marlee Heighton (14) led the Lions with 10 points in the regional semifinal
Addy Ross (12) brings the ball up the floor during the regional semifinal
Marshall's Ella Mattas (24) dribble drives down the left side during the regional semifinal game
