Rockford Christian’s impressive run toward an IHSA Class 1A state championship came to an end just one win shy of a title showdown.
Deer Creek-Mackinaw (also known as Dee-Mack) and its star center Dalia Dejesus made sure of that in the Thursday, March 5 semifinals at Normal.
After tearing through the 1A postseason all the way to the state tournament, Rockford Christian fell 48-35 to Dee-Mack.
“Obviously this is a disappointing feeling,” Rockford Christian head coach Ted Lawver said. “We had a great year, and our girls deserved to be here. But we knew Dee-Mack was well equipped and very talented. They were tough.”
The Royal Lions were scheduled to return to the floor in Normal for the 1A third-place showdown later on Thursday.
But despite missing seven layups and shooting just 22 percent from the field in the first half and 27 percent for the game, the Royal Lions found a way to hang tight. Even slicing the lead to single digits midway through the third.
They held Dee-Mack without a field goal for the final 4:11 of the second quarter, but Dejesus and the Chiefs’ offense started to wear down RC in the second half.
“That’s usually what we do to teams,” Lawver said.
But the tables were turned in this one.
Dejesus, Dee-Mack’s All-State center, hit her first three field goals to kickstart the second half, and Dee-Mack’s lead grew to as high as 16 (33-17). But Shea Ludwig got hot.
Her steal and coast-to-coast finger-roll, followed by a rebound and a putback 20 seconds later, changed the momentum to end the third quarter. Another Ludwig fast-break layup cut the gap to nine early in the fourth.
“We came out with a different energy in that third quarter,” said Ludwig, who had 11 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals. “We kind of came together there for a while … But not enough.”
Dejesus turned it up a notch from there, and Dee-Mack put it away. The 6-1 senior drained three straight buckets in the span of 1:17 late in the third, quieting the Royal Lions’ once-rowdy crowd, and reeling the momentum back for the rest of the way. She went 9-for-15 from the floor and 12 of 15 from the free-throw line while scoring 31 points. Dejesus also had 10 rebounds, four steals and four blocks.
“You know that stat line you just read off: that’s just a Thursday for Dalia Dejesus,” Dee-Mack head coach Joni Nightingale said. “She’s something special.”
Rockford Christian (25-12), which battled 2A and 3A teams much of the regular season in the Big Northern Conference, had been on a postseason tear in 1A, winning its five playoff games by an average of 28.4 points headed into the semis. They couldn’t have been more dominant as the Royal Lions soared to the Final Four at state with a 52-20 win over Winnetka North Shore Country Day in Monday’s super-sectionals.
Dee-Mack (33-3) pulled out a two-point win in its super-sectional battle.
But the Chiefs found a way to neutralize the Royal Lions’ offense most of the night. Ludwig led the way for Rockford Christian, but even she was 3-for-12 from the floor and had five turnovers. Lucy Gargani tallied nine points and five rebounds, but she also had six turnovers.
And Teagan Lawver, the Royal Lions’ 6-footer who was tasked with trying to stop Dejesus much of the night, had just two points and five rebounds, and she fouled out with 2:01 remaining.
“She’s a really good player, and we knew that,” Teagan Lawver, a junior, said. “She’s just strong… We were able to stop her here or there, but just not the entire game.”
Mt. Pulaski (33-1) knocked off Mt. Sterling Brown County (31-4) in overtime in the first 1A semifinal of the day, and the Hilltoppers will take on Dee-Mack in Saturday’s 10 a.m. 1A title game. Rockford Christian was scheduled to take on Brown County for third in the evening of March 5.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford Christian’s run comes to halt against Dee-Mack, Dalia Dejesus
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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