Lady Shoes Reach Final Four

(THE TEUTOPOLIS LADY SHOES ARE HEADED TO THE CLASS 2A FINAL FOUR AFTER A 37-27 WIN OVER THE NASHVILLE HORNETTES AT THE SALEM SUPER-SECTIONAL MONDAY NIGHT...photo courtesy of Repking Media)

A tremendous defensive effort propelled the Teutopolis Lady Shoes into the Girls Class 2A Final Four Monday night. Teutopolis defeated the Nashville Hornettes 37-27 to win the 2A Super-Sectional at Salem's B.E. Gum Gymnasium in a contest heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com. 

The Lady Shoes will take on St. Joseph-Ogden Friday at 7:15pm at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal. St. Joe-Ogden won the Pontiac Super-Sectional, defeating Palos Heights (Chicago Christian) 58-35 Monday night.

If the Lady Shoes win Friday, they will play for the state championship Saturday at 7:15pm. If they lose, they would play for third place at 5:30pm Saturday.

Chicago Marshall will play Hillsboro at 5:30pm Friday in the other 2A semifinal. Marshall defeated Teutopolis in the semifinals last season, but the Lady Shoes rebounded to win the third place game.

Monday night's game looked like Teutopolis was going to sail off into the sunset, holding Nashville to two points in the first quarter and leading by as many as 15 points in the first half. They were up 20-10 at halftime, but Nashville had already begun a comeback that would see them pull within three points as the Lady Shoes made just one shot from the field in the third quarter. 

The Teutopolis defense, though, still held Nashville to nine points in the period while the Shoes made five of six from the line to minimize the damage and push the lead back up to eight 27-19 by the end of the quarter.

T-Town outpointed Nashville 10-8 in the final period to win by 10 points.

The Lady Shoes made just 32% of their shots, 11 of 34 including one of five threes. They made 14 of 18 foul shots, though, and committed just seven turnovers. 

Nashville made 39% of their shots, 12 of 31, including two of eight threes. They took just four free throws, and made just one. The Hornettes turned the ball over 14 times. T-Town had a 19-16 rebound edge.

Lexie Niebrugge and Olivia Niemerg each scored nine points, with Niemerg going seven-of-eight at the line. Sadie Bueker scored seven points, Claire Bushur six, Hope Bueker three, Morgan Mette two, and Savannah Grimes one. Bushur led the Shoes with five rebounds.

Alyssa Cole led Nashville with eight points, while Rylee Luechtefeld and Emily Stern each scored six, Libby Ahlers four and Sabrina Kollbaum three.

Teutopolis improved to 32-4 on the season, while Nashville ends its campaign with a 22-11 mark.

Here's ticket information for Lady Shoes fans:

Tickets will be sold for Friday night's game on Wednesday according to this schedule:

8:00-8:25am--tournament players and managers in the Athletic Office

First Hour--other girls basketball players, cheerleaders, pomerettes, and boys basketball players in the Athletic Office

Lunch Hour--students tickets will be sold in the high school gym. Students will be allowed to buy one ticket.

1:30-2:30--qualified staff may purchase tickets in the high school athletic office

4:00-4:30--general public on a first come first served basis in the high school office.

There will be no admittance to the high school building until 3:55pm.

Class 2A Salem Super-sectional

TEUTOPOLIS (37)

M. Mette 1-0 -- 2, Grimes 0-1 -- 1, Niebrugge 2-4 -- 9, Niemerg 1-7 -- 9, S. Bueker 3-1 -- 7, Bushur 3-0 -- 6, H. Bueker 1-1 -- 3. TOTALS 11 FG, 14 FT.

NASHVILLE (27)

Kollbaum 1-0 -- 3, Phiers 2-0 -- 4, Kozuszek 0-0 -- 0, Stern 3-0 -- 6, Luechtefeld 2-1 -- 6, Cole 4-0-- 8. TOTALS 12 FG, 1 FT.

Teutopolis              10    10    7    10    --    37

Nashville                 2      8    9      8    --    27

3-point FG -- Teutopolis 1 (Niebrugge 1), Nashville 2 (Kollbaum 1, Luechtefeld 1).