Chiefs of State: Dee-Mack girls basketball wins first state title in program history
- Jonathan Michel
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
NORMAL — A picture is often a symbol of a great memory of the past.
For Dee-Mack girls basketball, a certain picture was a foreshadowing of the future and a manifestation of what lay ahead.
Five years after the Chiefs' junior high team took a group picture in front of CEFCU Arena in Normal and envisioned themselves playing on that very court at the IHSA State Finals, they fulfilled the prophecy by winning the Class 1A state championship 49-35 over Mt. Pulaski on Saturday.
Dee-Mack’s first state championship in girls basketball was a fitting way to cap a phenomenal four year-stretch where they tasted 30-win seasons, postseason heartbreak and almost every emotion in between.
At long last, the job has been finished.
“It feels incredible,” Dee-Mack head coach Joni Nightingale said. “It feels like hard work paid off. It feels like girls that poured into themselves and played for each other got to see a really cool result.”
Dalia DeJesus isn’t a player that has been easy to deny during her illustrious four-year career at Dee-Mack. But at times, she had doubts if she and her team would be able to achieve the goal that they set when snapping that photo in middle school.
“Honestly, I don't really know,” DeJesus said. “I mean, there were times where I doubted myself and my abilities, but then I was proved wrong by all my teammates, and they've always shown up for me in big ways. So I knew, especially this year, that we were working for what we were going to get.”
Dee-Mack finishes the season 34-3, setting a program record for wins in a season. The Chiefs have gone 128-15 over the four years that DeJesus and Nunley have been part of the program.
“I've never seen another group look like this in times of trial, in times of success, they're so composed,” Nightingale said. “It makes me want my kids to be like them, and I don't know that you can get a better compliment to anyone than that.”
DeJesus, who was recently named an IBCA Class 1A first team all-state selection, and Nunley, an IBCA all-state honorable mention, have both broken multiple records and left an indelible legacy at Dee-Mack. But the Chiefs’ state championship is also the result of the work that others before them have put in.
“I heard from Addy Swadinsky, McKenna Caruthers, Lexi Cottingham, all those girls, they’re friends of this team,” Nightingale said. “They were the ones that were culture shifters for us, that changed the way things were done.”
“They believed in themselves”
The Chiefs and Hilltoppers dealt small blows to each other all game and battled within an eight-point differential for all of the first three quarters.
Leading 30-27 entering the fourth quarter, Dee-Mack began a strong finishing kick with a layup from Kate Schmidgall. Her sister, Anna Schmidgall, drained her first shot of the game — a three from the wing after missing her first seven from the field — shortly afterward to make it a 35-29 lead with 5:58 left.
Anna Schmidgall’s offensive rebound off a three-point miss led to a layup from DeJesus with 5:14 to go and DeJesus dished down to Kate Schmidgall for another layup to give the Chiefs its first double-digit advantage at the 4:39 mark of the fourth.
“Playing with my sister, I think, is my favorite part of this whole experience,” Kate Schmidgall said. “And being able to win a state championship with her is one of, if not the most special thing I will ever experience.
“Being able to just hit big shots with her in the fourth quarter, and staying in with her the whole game, just playing confident with her was just amazing to play with my sister.”
“She's been a role model for most of my life,” Anna Schmidgall said. “Playing just this big of a game with her has been such a blessing.”
Each player stepped up big in the second half but none more so than DeJesus. The Quincy University-bound forward was limited to just two points at halftime after scoring 31 in Thursday’s semifinal victory over Rockford Christian.
Knowing that DeJesus helped give Dee-Mack a significant size advantage over Mt. Pulaski, the Chiefs knew she needed to get going against Mt. Pulaski’s 1-2-2 zone in the second half as they trailed 19-16 at the intermission
“We were getting out-rebounded at the half and that's just not acceptable for us and they know that,” Nightingale said. “Things weren't falling and we really looked to get inside the paint…We knew when we can see the ball go through the net in the paint, that would set us up for success.”
And DeJesus delivered.
Riley Durbin banked in a three to tie the game early in the third, beginning a stretch where both teams traded buckets for nearly over minutes. DeJesus put in layups on four different occasions to give the Chiefs a two-point lead after each one. She ended the final game of her high school career with 16 points and 13 rebounds and five assists.
“We came out with a game plan, and it was to not let Dalia touch the ball but she's a tremendous athlete,” Mt. Pulaski guard Alyson Murphy said. “She's bigger than us, and I feel like we did a very good job of fronting her and not allowing her to score. Then in the second half, she kind of started posting that board, that kind of hurt us a little bit.”
Her biggest impact in the game arguably came on the defensive end where she swatted six Hilltopper shots.
“I knew in the first half, I fell behind a little bit [and] the second half, I had to come out even stronger,” DeJesus said. “My teammates carried the first half especially and I hit some big shots, but the second half, our message, really, was just to come out 10 times more aggressive than we were in the first.”
“These girls are locked in,” Nightingale said. “We're not strangers to being down at the half. We've been there before, nobody gets scared on this team. They just know that maybe things didn't go our way [but] you can turn it around. They believed in themselves.”
Chiefs rely on confidence in everyone
Mt. Pulaski received 16 points from Murphy to lead the way and shot 12-for-49 from the field, including 5-for-26 in the second half and just 16 percent from deep. Dee-Mack shot 40 percent from the field (16-for-40) while draining seven threes and going 10-for-14 from the free throw line.
“They were bigger than us, they were stronger than us, but we held our own and we just battled,” Mt. Pulaski head coach Ryan McVickers said.
Dee-Mack spread the wealth in its three-point makes. Durbin went a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and swished one home to start each half, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.
“I was actually really confident shooting that three,” Durbin said. “It gave me an extra boost, like I knew this game is going to be a good game.”
Nunley, Dee-Mack’s all-time three-point queen, also made a trio from beyond the arc, including two to help the Chiefs take a 12-4 lead in the first quarter and another in a key moment late in the third to give her team a 30-25 advantage.
Nunley, who will go on to the University of Missouri after graduating and will hang up her basketball shoes, joined Durbin with 11 points and added a pair of assists and steals. Kate Schmidgall finished with six points and seven rebounds and Anna Schmidgall tallied five points and four assists.
The Chiefs displayed their togetherness by notching assists on 13 of their 16 free throws.
“This team is used to Dalia getting a lot of attention so they know if they're the one that their number is getting called, then they have to step up and perform,” Nightingale said. “And they're all confident. We're confident in them that they can do that.”
A final goodbye
Once the Chiefs’ win was inevitable, DeJesus and Nunley both stepped to the free throw line for the final time in their red, black and white uniforms.
The arena that they stood outside as middle schoolers was now filled with fans showing up to support, in a way saying ‘thank you’ for what they’ve done for the towns of Mackinaw, Deer Creek and even all of Central Illinois.
“I was honestly just trying to take it all in when I wasn't shooting free throws,” DeJesus said. “I was trying to just soak up our entire community being here.”
What the seniors meant to the team though has been more than just the many wins, double-doubles and three-pointers; the Chiefs have the character of a state champion too.
“These girls lead with their heart,” Nightingale said. “We talk all the time about having composure, about being players of character, competing in every moment like it's our last, and being proud of ourselves for the way that we compete.”
Picture that.