Girls basketball: Serena’s hopes of back-to-back state appearances ended by St. Thomas More

PONTIAC – Even coming off the program’s first IHSA state tournament appearance, this season’s Serena Huskers felt they had something to prove ... and they spent all season proving it over and over again.

St. Thomas More’s girls basketball team came into Monday’s Class 1A Pontiac Supersectional against those Huskers with something to prove itself, and it did so right from the start of an eventual 56-35 victory in Crowley Gym.

St. Thomas More (27-6) moves on to the state semifinals at Redbird Arena in Normal, the site where last year’s Huskers claimed Class 1A’s fourth-place trophy.

“We showed that we can play with them, but we can’t give up that big a lead early.”

—  Serena girls basketball coach Jim Jobst

Serena (27-9) sees its season come to an end after claiming its second consecutive regional and sectional championships.

“I definitely think we proved what we set out to [this season],” said Huskers junior Paisley Twait, who along with her teammates was determined to have another strong season despite the graduation last spring of all-stater Katie Baker. “Most people didn’t think we’d make it out of our regional, and this game, being in this game, proves that even though we miss Katie dearly, we’re still here. We’re still a pretty good team.

“This game left a pretty bad taste in our mouths, and I think everyone’s going to work harder to get better, and we’re going to be back in and hopefully win this game next year.”

The return to Redbird marks St. Thomas More’s first appearance since winning the Class 2A state championship in 2014.

Serena scored Monday’s first points, a Makayla McNally putback 1:09 after the opening tip, to take a 2-0 advantage. The Sabers replied 22 seconds later with an Ava Dickerson 3-pointer, taking a lead they would never relinquish.

The 7-0 St. Thomas More run that began with Dickerson’s 3 was followed by a 6-0 run that closed the first quarter with the Huskers behind 17-5. The second quarter was better for Serena, but thanks to a balanced attack led by point guard Emma Devocelle that by game’s end saw all five Sabers starters score between nine and a dozen points, St. Thomas More pushed its lead to 29-14 by halftime.

“It just seemed like we were 80% [at the start], not going 100%,” Huskers coach Jim Jobst said. “A little timid, a little afraid. We missed a couple early, and they made a couple early, and then it felt like it snowballed a little bit.

“We showed that we can play with them, but we can’t give up that big a lead early.”

Devocelle finished with 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds, with fellow STM starters Maddy Swisher (12 points), Dickerson (11 points), Ruari Quarnstrom (10 points, seven rebounds) and Gianna Kreps (nine points) were the other leaders of a Sabers attack that shot 56.4% (22 of 39) from the field and committed only five turnovers.

Despite that efficiency, the Sabers didn’t have an easy time shaking the Huskers, who drew as close as nine points, 29-20, on another McNally putback with 4:44 to play in the third. That nine-point deficit was as close as Serena would shave it, however, as its 12 turnovers and 37.2% shooting (16 of 43) – including 0 for 6 from 3-point range – more than offset its 29-17 advantage in rebounding.

Devocelle buried the dagger, a 3-pointer just over two minutes into the final quarter that put the Sabers ahead 48-29 and took the last gasp out of Serena’s comeback hopes.

“No one expected us to be here,” Devocelle said. “We knew we needed a lot of energy coming into this game. [Serena had] been to state; we hadn’t, but we knew we had exactly what it takes. We just needed to find that energy within ourselves and the desire to get to Redbird.”

Twait’s 11-point, six-rebound effort led Serena, with McNally (eight points, eight rebounds) and Reese Cole (eight points) close behind. Jenna Setchell added four points and six rebounds, with Jaiden Mahler and Rayelle Brennan pitching in two points apiece for the Huskers, who fell one postseason win short of back-to-back trips to Redbird Arena and will lose only two players from this year’s team – Cole and Mahler – to graduation.

“We told them after the game, ‘You’re in the final eight. You’ve proved everything you need to prove,’ " Jobst said. “They put ‘We’re Here to Stay’ on their sweatshirts this year. They want to be here, in this game. They want to make it a year-to-year thing.

“They set the bar up there, and they achieved it. Hopefully we can keep it going.”