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At Kresl Memorial Gym,
Dwight
IHSA Class 1A Regional
Championship
Marquette 47, Serena 43
Serena (43) – Smith 1 1-3
3, Murphy 2 2-4 6, A. Witter
1 5-8 8, D. Witter 8 1-3 18,
Brennan 3 0-0 8, Krug 0 0-
0 0, Cools 0 0-3 0, Witzel 0
0-0 0. Totals 15 9-21 43.
Marquette (47) – Caputo 0
0-0 0, Jessen 4 2-3 12,
Gama 2 0-0 6, Smith 1 2-2
4, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Evola 0 1-
2 1, Salt 1 3-4 5, Murphy 6
7-9 19. Totals 14 15-20 47.
Serena (16-12) 11 6 15 11 – 43
MA (27-2) 11 8 12 16 – 47
3-point goals – Serena 4
(Brennan 2. D. Witter, A.
Witter); Marquette 4 (Gama
2, Jessen 2). Rebounds –
Serena 27 (D. Witter 8, A.
Witter 7); Marquette 36
(Murphy 20). Turnovers –
Serena 21; Marquette 18.
Total fouls (fouled out) –
Serena 17; Marquette 20
(Taylor).
Dwight
IHSA Class 1A Regional
Championship
Marquette 47, Serena 43
Serena (43) – Smith 1 1-3
3, Murphy 2 2-4 6, A. Witter
1 5-8 8, D. Witter 8 1-3 18,
Brennan 3 0-0 8, Krug 0 0-
0 0, Cools 0 0-3 0, Witzel 0
0-0 0. Totals 15 9-21 43.
Marquette (47) – Caputo 0
0-0 0, Jessen 4 2-3 12,
Gama 2 0-0 6, Smith 1 2-2
4, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Evola 0 1-
2 1, Salt 1 3-4 5, Murphy 6
7-9 19. Totals 14 15-20 47.
Serena (16-12) 11 6 15 11 – 43
MA (27-2) 11 8 12 16 – 47
3-point goals – Serena 4
(Brennan 2. D. Witter, A.
Witter); Marquette 4 (Gama
2, Jessen 2). Rebounds –
Serena 27 (D. Witter 8, A.
Witter 7); Marquette 36
(Murphy 20). Turnovers –
Serena 21; Marquette 18.
Total fouls (fouled out) –
Serena 17; Marquette 20
(Taylor).
C o d y' s
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C o l u m n s
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Photo by Bill Lidinsky
Marquette's Jessica Jessen kisses the regional plaque after the Lady Crusaders defeated
Serena to win the Class 1A Dwight Regional final.
Marquette's Jessica Jessen kisses the regional plaque after the Lady Crusaders defeated
Serena to win the Class 1A Dwight Regional final.
Marquette
Holds Off
Stubborn
Serena
Holds Off
Stubborn
Serena
Murphy’s Huge Night Lifts Lady Cru To
Regional Title ...
By Bill Lidinsky
NISB Contributor
DWIGHT – It was one of those high
school basketball games that as an
observer you just wanted to see
continue after regulation playing time
had expired.
Regional Title ...
By Bill Lidinsky
NISB Contributor
DWIGHT – It was one of those high
school basketball games that as an
observer you just wanted to see
continue after regulation playing time
had expired.
Photo by Bill Lidinsky
Marquette's Cordy Murphy faces pressure from
Serena's Demi Witter and Caleen Smith during the
Class 1A Dwight Regional tournament final.
Marquette's Cordy Murphy faces pressure from
Serena's Demi Witter and Caleen Smith during the
Class 1A Dwight Regional tournament final.
That’s because for 32 minutes Thursday evening during a Class 1A Regional
Championship game here at Kresl Memorial Gymnasium in Dwight High School, No. 1 seed
Marquette Academy and No. 2 seed Serena gave all in attendance their monies worth and
much more after a contest that came down to the wire.
Both clubs battled neck and neck until the Lady Crusaders finally prevailed 47-43 over a
very young and resilient group of Lady Huskers that seemed to never say die.
Marquette (27-2) got a whopping 19 points and 20 rebounds from 6-4 senior post player
Cordy Murphy and hit a marksman like 15 of 20 (75 percent) free throws including a pair
with ten seconds left by senior guard Jessica Jessen (12 points) that sealed the deal for
the Lady Crusaders second regional title during the past three seasons.
Serena (16-12) owned a 36-35 lead with 5:35 left on the clock. But the Lady Huskers could
only connect on three of six free throws down the stretch and a mere nine of 21 (43
percent) charity tosses on the night and that proved to be the big elephant in the room for
Serena in the end despite a tremendous overall effort that saw sophomore sensation Demi
Witter tally 18 points and haul down eight rebounds on the losing side of the ledger.
“Number one, you’ve got to give Serena a heck of a lot of credit and coach (Craig) Twait.
They’re going to be dangerous the next couple of years. They’ve got a nice ball club and
they’ve got a lot of heart too,” said Marquette coach Todd Hopkins. “You look at our
season free throw percentage and it’s like 62 percent whatever. But to look at it the last
three minutes on the fourth quarter tonight and we were pretty good. We had our big girl
pants on put it that way.”
“As long as we could walk off this floor with our heads up knowing we gave it our all, that’s
all you can ask,” said Serena coach Craig Twait. “We couldn’t play much better than that.
Free throws killed us tonight. They shot free throws real well and we did not. It came down
to the line and they hit their free throws in the end and that was the ballgame.”
Both clubs battled to an 11-11 tie after eight minutes of play before Marquette went on a 6-
0 run to grab a 17-11 lead after Jessen hit a three pointer at 6:45 and followed with a lay
up at 6:20 off a Serena turnover.
Witter then followed with six straight low post points to pull the score even at 17 apiece
before Alice Salt (five points) hit a lay up with 30 seconds left in the first half to give the
Lady Crusaders a 19-17 lead at halftime.
Serena’s lone senior Jeri Brennan (eight points) opened up the third stanza with a deuce
at 6:45 followed by a long-range triple at 6:15 to give the Lady Huskers a 22-19
advantage. They held the lead throughout the third period clinging to a 32-21 lead
entering the fourth and final quarter.
But that’s when Murphy went to work in the post. After Marissa Gama (six points) opened
the final frame with a baseline three ball to put the Lady Crusaders up 34-32, Murphy
followed with nine points from there as she hit her final basket with 1:15 to go that gave
Marquette a 43-30 lead.
“In the end, we started picking it up and mentally I knew I had to get things done. I had to
be strong with the ball and just go up with it,” Murphy said. “Every girl worked hard tonight
and I’m very proud of my team.”
After the Lady Huskers closed the gap to 45-43 on a 15 foot shot by Michaela Murphy (six
points) with 20 seconds to play, Jessen was fouled with ten ticks left and calmly sank two
free balls that put the Lady Cru into sectional play.
“It was nerve wracking, but I’ve been practicing my free throws a lot,” Jessen said. “I just
came through tonight and in the end it felt great to win a regional championship.”
Marquette now moves on to Monday's 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal at Varna Midland
where they’ll take on Wethersfield, whom defeated Ridgewood 66-32 also on Thursday at
the ROWVA regional in order to advance into the sectional semis versus the Lady
Crusaders.
“I’m sure it will be Wethersfield. They and Annawan are the favorites in the sectional,”
Hopkins said. “The pressures off. Now we can go and play now. I really like this group.
They work hard and they’re a good team. We’ll see what happens.”
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
Championship game here at Kresl Memorial Gymnasium in Dwight High School, No. 1 seed
Marquette Academy and No. 2 seed Serena gave all in attendance their monies worth and
much more after a contest that came down to the wire.
Both clubs battled neck and neck until the Lady Crusaders finally prevailed 47-43 over a
very young and resilient group of Lady Huskers that seemed to never say die.
Marquette (27-2) got a whopping 19 points and 20 rebounds from 6-4 senior post player
Cordy Murphy and hit a marksman like 15 of 20 (75 percent) free throws including a pair
with ten seconds left by senior guard Jessica Jessen (12 points) that sealed the deal for
the Lady Crusaders second regional title during the past three seasons.
Serena (16-12) owned a 36-35 lead with 5:35 left on the clock. But the Lady Huskers could
only connect on three of six free throws down the stretch and a mere nine of 21 (43
percent) charity tosses on the night and that proved to be the big elephant in the room for
Serena in the end despite a tremendous overall effort that saw sophomore sensation Demi
Witter tally 18 points and haul down eight rebounds on the losing side of the ledger.
“Number one, you’ve got to give Serena a heck of a lot of credit and coach (Craig) Twait.
They’re going to be dangerous the next couple of years. They’ve got a nice ball club and
they’ve got a lot of heart too,” said Marquette coach Todd Hopkins. “You look at our
season free throw percentage and it’s like 62 percent whatever. But to look at it the last
three minutes on the fourth quarter tonight and we were pretty good. We had our big girl
pants on put it that way.”
“As long as we could walk off this floor with our heads up knowing we gave it our all, that’s
all you can ask,” said Serena coach Craig Twait. “We couldn’t play much better than that.
Free throws killed us tonight. They shot free throws real well and we did not. It came down
to the line and they hit their free throws in the end and that was the ballgame.”
Both clubs battled to an 11-11 tie after eight minutes of play before Marquette went on a 6-
0 run to grab a 17-11 lead after Jessen hit a three pointer at 6:45 and followed with a lay
up at 6:20 off a Serena turnover.
Witter then followed with six straight low post points to pull the score even at 17 apiece
before Alice Salt (five points) hit a lay up with 30 seconds left in the first half to give the
Lady Crusaders a 19-17 lead at halftime.
Serena’s lone senior Jeri Brennan (eight points) opened up the third stanza with a deuce
at 6:45 followed by a long-range triple at 6:15 to give the Lady Huskers a 22-19
advantage. They held the lead throughout the third period clinging to a 32-21 lead
entering the fourth and final quarter.
But that’s when Murphy went to work in the post. After Marissa Gama (six points) opened
the final frame with a baseline three ball to put the Lady Crusaders up 34-32, Murphy
followed with nine points from there as she hit her final basket with 1:15 to go that gave
Marquette a 43-30 lead.
“In the end, we started picking it up and mentally I knew I had to get things done. I had to
be strong with the ball and just go up with it,” Murphy said. “Every girl worked hard tonight
and I’m very proud of my team.”
After the Lady Huskers closed the gap to 45-43 on a 15 foot shot by Michaela Murphy (six
points) with 20 seconds to play, Jessen was fouled with ten ticks left and calmly sank two
free balls that put the Lady Cru into sectional play.
“It was nerve wracking, but I’ve been practicing my free throws a lot,” Jessen said. “I just
came through tonight and in the end it felt great to win a regional championship.”
Marquette now moves on to Monday's 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal at Varna Midland
where they’ll take on Wethersfield, whom defeated Ridgewood 66-32 also on Thursday at
the ROWVA regional in order to advance into the sectional semis versus the Lady
Crusaders.
“I’m sure it will be Wethersfield. They and Annawan are the favorites in the sectional,”
Hopkins said. “The pressures off. Now we can go and play now. I really like this group.
They work hard and they’re a good team. We’ll see what happens.”
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!