Teutopolis Set For Class 2A State Tournament Run

Teutopolis High School is headed to the Class 2A State Tournament Friday.

Call it de ja vu . . . call it coincidence . . . call it pretty cool.

That's what Teutopolis Coach Laurie Thompson calls her team's entrance in this year's Class 2A State Basketball Tournament. But it's not just because the Wooden Shoes are returning to state for the third time under Coach Thompson. It's also because the Wooden Shoe tradition carries on and that will show at halftime of the third place game Saturday night at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal.

"They will be honoring our girls 1986 basketball team that night," said Thompson. "That's kind of cool. It was the first time we went to state and won it. Both the girls and boys teams that year won state and it was Dennis Koester's first state title."

The really cool part is that Thompson was a member of that team along with Beth (Niebrugge) Hartke and Sandy (Braun) Michels.  All three of those women have daughters playing on this year's team headed to state, Shelby Thompson, Anna Hartke and Macy Michels.

Now it's time for the 2015-16 squad to prove themselves at state. The Shoes enter Friday's opening round game at 6:30 p.m. against Westchester St. Joseph with a 28-6 record.

Coach Thompson talked about her team members:

"We have three seniors, Danielle Repking, Anna Hartke and Molly Smith. Danielle runs the point for us. She gets after it on defense and is our best defender against the opponent's kid that we need to stop. She doesn't shoot as much as I'd like for her to. She's a little floor general and knows what she's doing. She also will be competing in the three-point shootout at state Thursday night.

"Anna is probably our second or third leading scorer. She's our leading rebounder and is just a rebounding machine. She also plays really good post defense. She's not a real big physical kid but she's wiry. She can play inside and step outside and hit a 15-footer.

"Molly is a very versatile kid. She can go inside or outside. She's better on the outside and can shoot the three but she's also effective driving in to get the basket. She's a good ballhander and helps bring the ball up the floor."

"Shelby Thompson is a junior. She's the main three-point shooter for us. She also can drive. She shoots threes better than twos. Defensively she's a little weaker. She's the second leading rebounder and gets on the boards. She also plays guard.

"Raegan Drees is a junior guard, kind of like an off-guard. She also is tough defensively. Her biggest strength is she can get to the basket. She's pretty quick off the drrible.

"Jamie Sandschafer is our sixth man right now. She's a lot like Molly where she can play inside, outside, is a good shooter and also a good driver. It's really good to have Jamie. She's a good rebounder.

"Jolene Bueker is a 5-foot-9 sophomore. One of the things she's good at is rebounding. If we're struggling on rebounding, I'll put her in. She also can shoot the ball.

"Sadie Bueker, is a freshman. She can shoot the ball and play pretty good defense. She's pretty steady and consistent.

"I've also got a great bench. Other team members include juniors Lexie Kaufman and Christy Hoene, sophomores Lauren Hemmen, Shanna Niebrugge, Marianna Hemmen and Macy Michels and freshman Morgan Mette."

Thompson is leading the team in scoring with an 11.1 average while Smith is at 10.9 a game. Then it's pretty even with Hartke at 8.7, Sandschafer at 7.3 and Drees at 6.4. Hartke has 227 rebounds on the year while Thompson has 116. Repking leads in assists with 80 while Thompson has 69.

The Shoes competed in the  Salem Thanksgiving Tournament this season where they finished second to host Salem, the Edwardsville  Holiday Tournament where they took fourth and the Highland Tournament where they won the consolation championship.

"We were second at Salem and didn't handle the pressure at that point," said Thompson. "I think we're much better handling the pressure now. At Edwardsville we played Sacred Heart Griffin and Edwardsville, both quality teams. Hopefully some of those styles will help us in the first game Friday.

"Highland was a turning point for us. That first game we got beat by Belleville Althoff and I wasn't happy. We didn't play well. I told the girls either you understand and learn from this loss or it's going to be a long season and no post-season. We started to do some things we hadn't been doing. Sometimes those losses are the best thing that can happen."

Coach Thompson talked about her team overall.

"Offensively we're coming into our own. We put in a new offense and we're getting comfortable with it. Defensively, we've really imprvoed a lot during the season. We played very good defense in the sectional but we were lacking a little at super-sectional. I like us defensively in the fullcourt set and the halfcourt set."

The Shoes will face a Westchester St. Jseph team that has a 20-12 record. The Chargers have two players averaging in double figures plus three more scoring six points or more per game. Maia Marshall, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, leads with a 17.3 average while Amber Brooks, a 5-foot-8 senior, is at 14.1 a game. Elise Estelle, a 5-foot-6 senior is at 9.2, Dana Johnson, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, is at 7.2 and Davana Gross, a 5-foot-0 junior, is at 6.5.

The Chargers are a smaller and younger team with the tallest player Johnson at 6-foot-3 and only two seniors, Estelle and Brooks.

"I just finished watching some film," said Thompson. "We're going to play a team that is really quick. Our normal man-to-man depends on if we can stay with them. We might have to throw other defenses at them. They get after it. They will be an aggressive team and we're going to have to take care of the ball and be able to handle their quickness."

Assisting Coach Thompson this season is Josh Cottrell, the JV coach, Justin Fleener, the frosh/soph coach and volunteer coach Heather Pruemer.

The Shoes play at 6:30 p.m. while Camp Point Central (27-5) will meet Byron (31-3) at 8:15 p.m. Alicia Ordner, another former Teutopolis player, is an assistant coach on the Camp Point Central squad.

The winners of those two games will square off for the state title at 8:15 p.m. Saturday while the losers meet for third place at 6:30.