LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
TEUTOPOLIS—The Mayo Lady Redbirds held rival Teutopolis scoreless in two quarters to win their IESA Class 8-3A sectional championship 29-17 on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
The victory by Coach Adam Vilk’s undefeated team (23-0) earns them “elite eight” status and a trip to the IESA State Tournament beginning Saturday, Dec. 14 at Germantown Hills Middle School, located northeast of Peoria.
Mayo is set to play LaGrange Highlands (11-2) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. A win would move the Lady Redbirds into the final four and a second game that day at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of the Peotone-Washington Central game. The third-place and title games are scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 19.
Interestingly, it’s not just the Paris High School Lady Tigers and Lady Wooden Shoes who have a rivalry — the Lady Redbirds and young Wooden Shoes also have established a competitive history of their own. Mayo’s eighth-grade team took second in the state as sixth graders. As seventh graders, they defeated T-Town in the regular season before falling to the Shoes in the sectional title game. T-Town went on to win the state tourney last year.
This season, the Lady Redbirds defeated the Wooden Shoes each time they faced off – in the regular season and again in the sectional final. T-Town finishes the season 23-2.
Wednesday’s contest was all Mayo from the tip. The Lady Redbirds raced out to a 9-0 first-quarter lead, holding the Wooden Shoes scoreless. T-town cut the lead to 14-7 by halftime, thanks to two Caitlin Clark-esque three bombs from Maggie Dreas.
Mayo’s defense shut down the Wooden Shoes again in the third quarter and the Lady Redbirds led 27-7 headed into the final six minutes of play. Dreas hit two more threes in that quarter, but it wasn’t enough to threaten the Lady Redbirds, who hoisted the sectional trophy after the game.
Maddox Adams led the scoring for Mayo with four buckets, three of them treys, for 11 points. Sloan Vilk added four baskets and a free throw for nine points. Hellie Barrett netted seven points while Leah Sanders rounded out the scoring for Mayo with two free throws.