1A girls basketball: St. Bede routs Ida Crown to earn first trip to state

ELGIN – The St. Bede girls basketball team leaped up and down with its plaque high in the air as the large Bruins student section flooded around them chanting, “State, state, state.”

Then the team and their faithful sang a loud rendition of the St. Bede fight song.

After that, there were hugs, high-fives and tons of pictures as the plaque was passed from player to player.

The Bruins had plenty to celebrate on a historic night.

St. Bede scored the first seven points of the game and led start to finish for a 70-54 victory over Ida Crown in the Class 1A Harvest Christian Supersectional to earn its first trip to the IHSA state tournament in girls basketball.

The Bruins also set a program record for wins at 29, breaking the old mark of 28 set by the 1999-2000 squad.

“It’s pretty surreal,” St. Bede coach Stephanie Mickley said. “We had them scouted pretty well, but you just never know what you’re going to walk into. I thought the girls were very focused, very poised. They came to play. They executed for the most part what we were supposed to do and they never lost focus.

“They broke the school record for wins and they’re going to state, so I’m very proud of them. They’re very hardworking kids.”

And Ali Bosnich achieved a personal milestone as she surpassed 1,000 career points with a jump shot from just inside the foul line with 58.8 seconds left in the first quarter.

“It’s an accomplishment I will always be thankful for,” Bosnich said. “It’s an individual accomplishment, and sometimes it’s OK to be selfish and be as grateful for your individual goals as your team goals.”

St. Bede (29-7) will face defending state champion Okawville (23-11) in the state semifinals at 11:15 a.m. Thursday at Illinois State University’s CEFCU Arena in Normal.

“It feels awesome,” Lili McClain said. “We’ve worked really hard for this, so we knew from the start we could do it, so it’s nice to see that we made it.”

Okawville earned its return trip to state with a 55-26 win over Goreville in the Okawville Supersectional.

“I told them it’s only going to get harder from here,” Mickley said. “We just have to stick with what we know and take it to them. We made it to the top four in state. We weren’t expected to be here. We’re going to do our best to take it to them and see what happens.”

On Monday, St. Bede was able to score in the paint, from the outside and in transition, the Bruins dominated the boards and limited Ida Crown star Ilana Schwartz to 17 points, including three in the first half on a Caitlyn Clark-style deep 3-pointer.

The Bruins established the inside-out offense early.

Ali Bosnich scored on a putback on St. Bede’s first possession, and Ella Hermes put St. Bede up 5-0 with a 3-pointer before Lily Bosnich swiped a steal and scored in transition for a 7-0 lead with 5:22 left.

A 3-point basket by Ali Bosnich pushed it to 10-2 before the Aces mounted a rally, cutting their deficit to 14-10.

Bosnich’s milestone basket and a 3 by Lili McClain pushed St. Bede’s lead to 19-10 by the end of the first quarter.

St. Bede pushed the lead to 38-19 by halftime when Ella Hermes knocked down a buzzer-beater 3-pointer, her fourth of the half.

“Inside shots have been on lately, so switching to outside kind of threw them off because they were all crammed in the middle,” Hermes said. “I just kept shooting. I knew we’d get the rebounds, so I didn’t give up shooting.

“I honestly didn’t do too well pregame, but I told myself I had to lock in.”

St. Bede flexed its muscles on the glass from the outset and outrebounded the Aces 52-25, including a 24-7 advantage in the first half.

“That was our main goal [to outrebound them],” Ali Bosnich said. “Coach kept reminding us to rebound. Last game the Serena coach said in an interview that whoever outrebounds will win. I think that carries through every game. I think the team that outrebounds will come out on top.”

Defensively, the Bruins managed to limit Schwartz, who entered averaging 25.1 points per game, to 17 points with 14 in the second half.

“She was their main scorer and we knew that,” Lily Bosnich said. “We just tried to shut her down as best we could.

“We just played off a little bit, but were ready for the shot whenever.”

Ali Bosnich scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Hermes finished with 19 points, while Ashlyn Ehm, Lily Bosnich and Lili McClain had six points each. Ehm also grabbed 14 rebounds and McClain had three assists.