CM’s Four Seniors Say Goodbye To The Court
BETHALTO – The Civic Memorial girls basketball team finished their season with a 32-6 record and a fourth-place finish at state. The Eagles fell to the Morton High School Potters 55-41 in the third-place game last Saturday (March 4).
That was the final game for four CM seniors: Madelyn Brueckner, Emily Williams, Kelbie Zupan and Claire Christeson.
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After their loss in the state semifinals against the Carmel Catholic High School Corsairs, Zupan said: “I wish I just had one more year” as she choked up a little while trying to hold back tears."
That’s a feeling all four players have in common.
Zupan would have loved to help her team try and get back to state. She scored a total of 434 points this season and 828 total in her high school career. She was a four-year varsity player and was a huge help in getting her team so far during the postseason. An example includes her cross-court drive to tie the game up against East St. Louis and force overtime in the Regional Championships back on Feb. 18. A game the Eagles went on to win in part to her 23-point performance.
Brueckner would love to stay and play another year alongside her little sister Meredith. While never really a starter this season, she was frequently brought in as a sub and racked up 61 points this year while playing in 35 games.
Williams has said in the past that she never really had an opportunity to see a lot of playing time until this season. This year she really played into her role on the team as a defensive powerhouse. She was one of three players to play in every game this season. She finished her senior season off with 155 points.
Last, but not least, Christeson would love more than anything to get another crack at it. A knee injury sidelined her for the entirety of her senior season. She still finished with 344 points during her high school career but could only watch from the sidelines. She could have been the missing piece to this team and definitely would have helped her team a ton during state.
The four were able to all be on the court together for one last time when head coach Mike Arbuthnot sent on Christeson and Brueckner into the final game of the season. It was only the second time this season Christeson stepped onto the court. Arbuthnot immediately subbed off all four seniors so they could receive one final ovation from the large CM crowd that traveled up to ISU for the games.
While it’s not a complete fairy-tale ending for these four girls, they still get to go out on top. A fourth-place finish at state is more than any one of them could have asked for and certainly not a bad way to go out.
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