Talk about a debut season for Dan Campion. The first-year Mahomet-Seymour girls’ basketball coach already had the joy of coaching the Bulldogs to their fourth consecutive Class 3A regional title last week. Now, after a 54-32 win over Rochester in the Glenwood Sectional semifinals on Tuesday night, he’s one win away from a sectional championship, which would be the program’s first since 2022.
“I was really blessed with getting a good group of girls,” Campion said. “They believed in me, I believed in them and it worked out. Sometimes, personalities don’t mix, and I think ours have really mixed well. It’s just been a really fun atmosphere.”
Kylie Waldinger led the way with 24 points, scoring 14 in the fourth quarter. Reese Gallier added nine points, and Hannah Martin and Courtney Fonte each had eight.
Like the regional championship win over Danville, it was a fairly close game until M-S (22-11) pulled away late. Campion credited his team’s tough road schedule for the players’ ability to lock in when it matters most.
“These games are more normal by this point,” Campion said. “We’re battle-tested, and it helps when you have seniors who can lead and talented young players. It’s just a good mixture.”
Watseka defense shines in win
Defense is what the Watseka girls’ basketball team has hung its hat on throughout its recent run of four consecutive regional championships, and the Warriors were at it again on Tuesday night. Watseka jumped out to a 14-0 lead to start its Class 2A Herscher Sectional semifinal against Reed-Custer, and it rode that early lead to a 50-24 win.
“We got off to a great start,” Watseka coach Barry Bauer said. “We shot really well, which made us a lot more comfortable as the game went on. And defensively, we put together four quarters of exactly what we wanted to do. When you look up there and see 24 points, we’re really proud of our defense.”
Megan Martin had another impressive postseason game, scoring a game-high 21 points. Kami Muehling added 10 points and eight rebounds, Noelle Schroeder dropped eight points and Lauren Tegtmeyer grabbed seven rebounds.
This is the Warriors’ (28-4) second year in a row making the Sweet 16, and they’re looking to bring home another plaque this time around.
Cissna Park fins a way
You need to win games like the one the Cissna Park girls’ basketball team did on Tuesday night to get to this point in the season. The Class 1A Midland Sectional semifinal was not a pretty contest, with both teams struggling offensively, but the Timberwolves pulled out a 42-30 win to advance.
“It was a slow, grind-it-out kind of game,” Cissna Park coach Anthony Videka said. “We really had trouble scoring. Just couldn’t find the bottom of the net. But our defense, thankfully, was pretty good. Hey, you win by one, you get to play another day.”
It’s become an expectation for this group of Timberwolves (28-4) to have postseason success.
Just last year, they came just a few points shy of reaching the state finals, and the volleyball team, made up of many of the same athletes, has made state in each of the last two fall seasons.
Salt Fork’s historic season closes
One of the best seasons in Salt Fork girls’ basketball history has come to an end. With the Storm’s 38-32 loss to St. Teresa in the Class 1A Arcola Sectional semifinals on Tuesday night, it ends this year’s campaign with a record of 29-3, totaling the most single-season wins in program history.
“I don’t even think words can describe how amazing this season was for this group of girls,” Salt Fork coach Brian Russell said. “Twenty-nine wins is the most in school history. The three losses we had, we were right in it. Just an amazing season.”
The loss also marked the end of Salt Fork’s greatest scorer’s high school career. Senior Alexa Jamison became the school’s all-time leading scorer early in the season and eclipsed the 2,000-point mark during the team’s run to a fourth straight Vermilion County Tournament title.
“The end always hurts, no matter what seniors you’ve got,” Russell said. “(Tuesday night), the ball just did not bounce our way, and that makes it even more frustrating. You did the majority of things right all night, but the ball just didn’t bounce your way. It’s painful for the season to end, and this group of seniors had a fabulous year to go out on.”
Arcola’s magic runs out
This was Corey Roberts’ fourth year coach Arcola girls’ basketball, and it was a special one.
The Purple Riders captured their first regional championship since 2015 last week, but they came up just short 45-34 in the Class 1A Arcola semifinals against St. Anthony on Tuesday night.
While Arcola’s (22-10) magical run came to an end, it put Purple Rider basketball back on the map. Roberts said he’s expecting this year’s success to do wonders for the program moving forward.
GCMS falls one step shy of sectional final
Sophomore star Lily Sizemore put the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley girls’ basketball team on her back and carried them to a second straight regional title, but the road ended on Tuesday night in a 50-29 Class 1A Midland Sectional semifinal loss to Roanoke-Benson.
A win for the Falcons (27-6) would have set up a sectional title rematch with Cissna Park. Last year’s matchup, as well as this year in the regular season, those teams battled it out for three overtimes before the Timberwolves escaped with a pair of wins.
Sullivan’s great season comes to an end
The Sullivan girls’ basketball team flew under the radar for a majority of the season but was consistently one of the best teams in the area. Following yet another postseason contest that came down to the wire, the Redskins saw their 15-game win streak and their season come to an end in a 39-37 Class 2A Paris Sectional semifinal loss to Mt. Carmel on Tuesday night.
Before that thriller, Sullivan (29-4) also won its first regional championship since 2019 in dramatic fashion, taking a 37-35 victory over Maroa-Forsyth.
Bulldogs poised for another state run
The Mahomet-Seymour wrestling team has 15 state trophies in the high school’s trophy case, the latest being for third place in 2022. Five of those are state championship trophies, and after the Bulldogs’ 45-19 Class 2A sectional win over Lincoln on Tuesday night, M-S coach Rob Ledin said this is starting to look like another solid chance to bring home another one.
“Even in our losses, we were wrestling to have fun and wrestling to dominate,” Ledin said. “It was a good night, we did what we needed to do and we’ve got some good momentum going into the state tournament.”
A.J. Demos, Marco Casillas, Brock VanDeveer, Noah Daniels, Phil Daniels, Myles Hartzler, Gideon Hayter, Justus Vrona, Colton McClure and Talon Decker each were victorious for M-S, with all but two of them winning by pin, technical fall or major decision. Safe to say the Bulldogs are ready for state.
Rockets ready for title pressure
Two weeks ago, Unity wrestling coach Logan Patton said he saw a lot of similarities to the Rockets’ Class 1A third-place teams from 2020 and 2022. After a 50-28 win over PORTA in the Unity dual team sectional on Tuesday night, the Rockets are heading to the state tournament for the fourth time in the last five postseasons and look as poised as ever to make another run at their first state championship.
“Pressure is a privilege,” Patton said. “There are a lot of programs who don’t have the chance to do this. I get to coach our seniors one more time. That’s the big thing. They know they’re going to be in a dogfight, and I think we have a great chance, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Hunter Shike, Taylor Finley, Kaden Inman, Holden Brazelton, Keegan Germano, Abram Davidson, Ryan Rink, Hunter Eastin and Chason Daly all earned wins for Unity. Five of them came via pins, and the other four were by technical fall. To say it was an impressive showing right before state would be an understatement.
“It was a fun night,” Patton said. “The wrestling gods looked after us, starting right at our Murderer’s Row. … We have a lot of history here. People see that singlet, and there are going to be nerves on their side, not ours. I think we’ll use that as some help.”
O/SF falls one match short of state
It wasn’t the way the Oakwood/Salt Fork wrestling team would have preferred to end the season, losing 63-12 to Vandalia in a Class 1A sectional on Tuesday night, one step away from the state tournament, but O/SF coach Mike Glosser sure couldn’t complain with the season that it was.
“We had a great run,” Glosser said. “Half of our lineup was returning, high-level, experienced kids, and the other half was a lot of first-, second- and third-year kids, so it was a good mix. It was fun to watch those guys come together and put together a pretty solid lineup. We know wrestling Vandalia in the Sweet 16 is a tough task. We were just hoping our kids competed and kept the culture, and they wrestled really well. We’re proud of them.”
Tyler Huchel, Devin Ehler and Pedro Rangel got the night started with three straight wins to put O/SF up 12-0, but Vandalia took the remaining matches.
O/SF finished fourth in 1A in 2023, and if its four individual All-State wrestlers over the weekend are any indication, this team will be in the running for more postseason success sooner rather than later.
“The individual success is awesome, but it doesn’t come without the team and iron sharpening iron on a daily basis,” Glosser said. “The team as a whole was fun to be around this year. Four All-Staters and four in the semifinals are both program records for a program that keeps trying to raise its standards to compete with those powerhouses. We don’t want to be a rollercoaster 1A program. We want to keep raising our standards and stay competitive at a high level on a year-in-year-out basis. This team helped keep that rolling for a little bit.”
发表回复