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"Aggressive mentality": Irish advance to 2A state title for second consecutive year


PND girls basketball
Peoria Notre Dame's Alli Stickelmaier celebrates a big basket during Thursday's Class 2A State semifinal at CEFCU Arena. Photo by Charles Green.

NORMAL — The Peoria Notre Dame girls’ basketball team will play for its second consecutive Class 2A state championship. 


The Irish pulled away from Mt. Carmel in the second half of a 61-35 state semifinal victory on Thursday afternoon at CEFCU Arena, using a top-notch level of defensive intensity and a relentless stream of threes to outscore the Golden Aces 40-16 in the second half to pave the way to victory.


"Coming into the second half, we just had an aggressive mentality and I think that won us the game," sophomore guard Emy Wardle said.


"The second half was clearly more of how we like to play," PND head coach Layne Langholf added. "When we make shots and we can get up and guard and pressure, that's how these kids love to play."


The Irish led by just two at halftime after going 1-for-10 from behind the arc in the first 16 minutes, but shot the lights out of CEFCU Arena in the second half en route to the big win.


More from PND's state semifinal win: Faces in the crowd: Peoria Notre Dame 61, Mt. Carmel 35


After Mt. Carmel led 6-2 in the opening minutes, PND got its first spurt of momentum with an 11-2 run in the opening quarter with Emy Wardle providing the early spark. The sophomore guard provided a majority of her team's points in that stretch, pouring in a pair of layups, a pair of free throws and a triple as PND led 15-10 after one.


Floaters from junior Lexi Baer and senior Julia Mingus ensured a 21-19 lead at halftime, hardly a lead that the Irish – who are no stranger to large wins – are accustomed to. But the Irish knew that all they had to do in the second half was to play their game and they'd be moving on to Saturday's state title game.

Julia Mingus
PND's Julia Mingus drives in against Mt. Carmel in Thursday's Class 2A State semifinal. Photo by Charles Green

“We weren’t super thrilled at halftime but knowing how we can play and having that trust in our teammates definitely helped us in that second half,” Mingus said.


PND turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, forcing a total of 19 turnovers which led to 21 Irish points. Lexi Baer led PND with 18 points, Emy Wardle added 15 points and Julia Mingus chipped in 10 points to help the winning cause. 


"We played this press a few times before, we like being really aggressive and making the ball get out of the main ball-handlers hands...when we came out in the second half, we wanted to start off with something different," Baer said.


The Irish came out with heavy full-court pressure in the third, extending their lead to 29-23 before a 3-point barrage from PND. Baer found her rhythm after a tough first half shooting with a three to go up 32-23 with 4:36 left. 38 seconds later, Mingus added a triple off of a fast break, and Wardle finished off the 9-0 run with a deep ball at 3:12 to go up 38-23.


“We were helping each other and not putting each other down,” senior forward Alli Stickelmaier said. “We said ‘We have to keep going, sometime a three will go in’ and once it went in, we kept working together and shooting more and the shops kept falling in.”


PND replicated its 20-8 advantage from the third quarter in the fourth as Mingus and Wardle drained threes to start the frame and Baer poured it on with seven consecutive Irish points to take a 56-31 lead with 3:44 to go.


"I just knew that in the second half, [the shots would] keep falling and as a whole team everybody started making their shots," Baer said. "We knew that was going to happen because that’s who we are as a team."


Maycee Randall, a 6-foot-3 center and Mt. Carmel's all-time leading rebounder led the Golden Aces with 10 points.


Alli Stickelmaier
PND's Alli Stickelmaier goes in for a layup during Thursday's Class 2A State semifinal. Photo by Charles Green

After graduating impactful seniors like Mya Wardle and losing Kaitlin Cassidy for the season due to a torn ACL, there was pressure for the returning Irish to get back to where they were last year. Thursday's win further proved that they can continue the impressive legacy.


“We knew that since we put in the hard work last year, we could put in even more hard work, especially being a senior,” Stickelmaier said. “I was just saying every single day ‘just work hard and keep working.’”


PND will face Nashville or Chicago Phillips in the state title game at 3 p.m. on Saturday. A Nashville win would mean a rematch of last year's Class 2A State Title game, where PND won 48-46 after a floater from Emy Wardle in the final seconds.


“We’re going to be ready for whatever the challenge is,” Langholf said. “It’s two different styles.” 


This story will be updated.

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