HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL 3 Peoria-area teams win IHSA sectional titles
CANTON — Peoria Notre Dame is celebrating like it’s 1999.
The top-ranked Irish cruised to a 59-37 win over eighth-ranked Deer CreekMackinaw on Thursday night in the Class 2A Canton Sectional title game. PND (31-4) heads to the Bureau Valley Supersectional and will face No. 5 Rock Island Alleman (30-4) at 7 p.m. Monday.
This was PND’s first sectional title since a 1999 Class AA Elite Eight appearance.
Mya Wardle set the tone early, scoring 18 of her game-high 26 points in the first half. Kaitlin Cassidy chipped 16 points and six rebounds for the Irish, who forced Dee-Mack into 27 turnovers.
Lexi Cottingham scored 12 for the Chiefs (32-3), which also got 11 points from Dalia DeJesus.
CLASS 3A Lincoln 61, Morton 40
EAST PEORIA — No. 1 versus No. 2 turned out to be a blowout.
Top-ranked Lincoln beat the No. 2 Potters in a meeting of the Class 3A’s top teams at the title game of the East Peoria Sectional. The 2023 3A state runner-up Railsplitters (35-0) head to the LaSalle-Peru Supersectional and face Dixon (27-6) at 7 p.m. Monday.
Addy Engel shot 7-for-11 with a team-high 19 points to lead the Potters (26-6), who trailed 30-14 at halftime. Colorado State commit Kloe Frobee paced Lincoln with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
CLASS 1A
Abingdon-Avon (26-8), playing in just its second sectional final.
Galena, which is on a 17-game win streak, has a pair of state trophies in the last two years, finishing runner-up to Brimfield in 2022 before a state thirdplace finish last season.
St. Bede 50, Serena 48
GARDNER — Nearly two-and-half decades have passed since St. Bede has been to this point.
Unranked St. Bede beat Serena in the Gardner-South Wilmington Sectional final. The Bruins (28-7) make their first Elite Eight appearance in 24 years, facing Skokie Ida Crown (20-3) at 7 p.m. Monday in the Elgin Harvest Christian Academy Supersectional.
This is just St. Bede’s second sectional title in program history since a 2000 Class A one.