Dee-Mack to play for state title after massive second half from DeJesus
- Jonathan Michel
- 10 hours ago
- 6 min read
NORMAL — A dream story for Dee-Mack girls basketball has one more chapter left in it.
The Chiefs had the uneasy task of playing under the bright lights and on the big stage at state at CEFCU Arena for the first time.
But on Thursday, they looked like seasoned state veterans as they broke free from Rockford Christian in a knotted first quarter, seized a lead and Dalia DeJesus put the team on her shoulders in the second half to lead Dee-Mack to a 48-35 Class 1A state semifinal win.
“It's surreal,” DeJesus said. “We're just thinking all postseason, what if we get here? What if we do this? And we've worked super hard for everything that we've earned.”
Head coach Joni Nightingale didn’t believe what had just happened in the seconds after the final buzzer sounded in Dee-Mack’s narrow super-sectional win on Monday. On Thursday, the same feeling washed over her.
“This was a little bit different just because we have a little bit more of a point margin in this one,” Nightingale said. “But it's still something that my head isn't fully wrapped around yet. To know that you're competing for a state championship is only something that happens in your dreams.”
Dee-Mack nearly missed out on a state trip that’s been long-awaited. The Chiefs fell short in a Class 2A super-sectional in 2023, which preceded consecutive sectional title losses to Peoria Notre Dame in 2024 and 2025.
On Monday, they survived in a 45-43 victory over Kewanee Wethersfield that came down to the final buzzer, but there was no doubt to be had that the Chiefs belonged on the state’s biggest stage and in the state’s biggest game on Saturday.
They’ll play Mt. Pulaski for the Class 1A state championship on Saturday at 10 a.m.
“This is something they dreamt of their whole lives,” Nightingale said. “Very few people get to see this happen.”
“I'm playing the game that I love with my teammates that I love, and my coaches behind me,” DeJesus said. “But then I look up and I see our entire community behind us and I see all of our friends with their chest painted and them in overalls and bandanas and all these signs. It really just means a lot to get to play for them, especially this close to home.”
The DeJesus takeover
Dee-Mack led 21-15 at halftime with DeJesus having nine points at the time. She came out of the locker room unleashed as a cold-shooting Royal Lions squad had no answer for her 22 second-half points.
“We’re disappointed,” Rockford Christian head coach Ted Lawver said. “It’s been a great season for us, we’ve battled hard…we had a lot of different looks that we were prepared for because we knew Dee-Mack was well-equipped with a lot of talent on the floor.”
A DeJesus jumper and a three-pointer from Jaelyn Nunley gave the Chiefs their first double-digit lead of the game at 26-15 with 6:34 to go in the third. Rockford Christian scored to get it back within single digits, but DeJesus responded with a three on the next possession and then added two scores in the paint.
Dee-Mack led 33-17 at that point and forced a timeout from a discombobulated Royal Lions team that was also making their first-ever state appearance.
“I didn't even know what the score was, I wasn't paying attention,” Kate Schmidgall said. “It's not a normal gym [because] you gotta look up to the ceiling to see the score. I look up and we're up by like, 16. I was like, ‘If we keep it up at this rate, we're going [to the state championship] like, this is it.’”
“They're athletic, they know basketball,” DeJesus said of Rockford Christian. “They wanted it too and obviously both teams are in the same position so it really does come down to who wants it more?”
Dee-Mack’s lead was trimmed minimally, but the Chiefs feasted with free throw opportunities as Rockford Christian battled foul trouble all afternoon. DeJesus sank six free throws to help cushion Dee-Mack’s lead late in the third quarter and the Royal Lions committed 22 fouls to Dee-Mack’s 13.
Rockford Christian’s 6-foot-2 center Teagan Lawver was crippled with several fouls for most of the game and finished with just two points and five rebounds. Three other Royal Lions finished with four fouls and the Chiefs converted 15 of their 23 free throws.
“We did recognize that and just wanted to continue to attack,” Nightingale said.
“We knew first of all that we had to protect ourselves from foul trouble,” she added. “Especially in that last stretch in the fourth quarter, we felt confident enough in our defense that if we didn't foul and put them on the free throw line, we were going to win the game.”
Chiefs hold off comeback attempt to finish the job
Rockford Christian made a brief comeback attempt, drawing to a 39-30 deficit right away in the fourth after an and-1 by Shea Ludwig, but committed three turnovers and did not make a three in the fourth quarter.
DeJesus scored in every which way — pull up jumpers, turnarounds, threes and free throws — to put the game away and finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, four blocks and two assists.
“That’s just a Thursday for Dalia DeJesus,” Nightingale said.
“When we got in foul trouble, that forced us to switch things up and she took advantage of that,” Lawver said.
Never one to take too much credit, DeJesus said she relied on the scrappy play of Nunley, the defense of Kate Schmidgall, the shooting and rebounding of Anna Schmidgall and the composure of point guard Riley Durbin to help power her big game.
“I felt like my teammates were getting a lot of tips and a lot of touches,” DeJesus said. “We had a lot of hustle plays and I think little scrappy things like that help other people step up and score, but it also helps me to score as well.”
Kate Schmidgall added six points and five rebounds — many of which came in a strong first-half — Nunley had five points and five rebounds and Riley Durbin and Anna Schmidgall both scored three for Dee-Mack. The big spotlight didn’t bother any of them.
“To me, I feel like I felt very comfortable on the floor and then that made me be like ‘This is it,’” Nunley said.
“We were all really excited before the game and no one really had a nervous look on their faces and it just pumped up my motivation,” Durbin said.
The Chiefs will have a day of light practice, film study on Friday to gear up for the biggest game of their lives on Saturday. They’ll also face an interesting predicament where their boys team plays rival Tremont for a Class 1A Monmouth United Sectional title on Friday night.
“The girls want to go to the boys sectional final so we’ll see,” Nightingale laughed. “It's kind of a big deal Saturday, playing at 10 a.m.”
“Nothing more special”
A sea of red in the stands was a driving force behind Dee-Mack’s win too. Hundreds of students made the trip to Normal, the shortest drive of their postseason journey so far and cheered them on in every step of the win.
“Every game, they show up for us,” Anna Schmidgall said. “Especially when I saw the student section, I felt confident.”
Nightingale, a fourth grade teacher in the school district, brought her whole class to the game. Dee-Mack’s state run is inspiring a new generation of future Chiefs basketball stars.
“We had over 100 kids here today, that's over 50 percent of our [student] population and those kids brought parents,” Nightingale said. “We had four fan buses from the high school so thank you to our district for allowing kids to be able to come.
“There's nothing more special than looking up in the stands and seeing a bunch of little girls and little boys excited about the game.”
While there’s plenty of good things to bask in after Thursday, the Chiefs know that hitting the reset button is necessary and that the job isn’t done yet.
“We have a lot to lose,” DeJesus said. “No matter what, neither of us want to end our high school careers feeling like we could have done more, or we could have hustled more on this play, or we could have lifted up this teammate in this way.
Dee-Mack’s seniors, DeJesus and Nunley, will have no shortage of motivation heading into the final game of their high school careers.
“We just have to keep pushing,” DeJesus said. “We've made it this far and what's the point of just sitting back now and being comfortable and then losing the game on Saturday?
“It's our last game, we're just going to go out and leave everything out on the floor,” she added. “Our teammates play like it's their last game of their lives too so we just have a well-rounded, passionate team and I'm really, really, really excited for Saturday.”