Scouting the Class 2A state tournament
Class 2A state semifinal preview
Who, When, Where: Quincy Notre Dame (31-1) vs. Aurora Central (25-6), 6:30 p.m. Friday at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University.
Advancement: Winner plays winner of Stillman Valley (26-6) vs. Breese Central (29-5) for state championship at 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
Inside the matchup: David vs. Goliath, you could say that a lot lately about Aurora Central's march through the Class 2A state tournament. The Chargers won their supersectional by 29 points after winning their two sectional games by a combined 46 points. Goliath for sure in the postseason for the Chargers who until last year had never won a regional championship before now they will be playing under the state's brightest lights.
And now it is Aurora Central who could be considered the David against Notre Dame, who won last year's state championship 75-64 over Bloomington Central and finished second in 2010. Quincy boasts a pair of first-team all-state players. Kassidy Gengenbacher leads at 16.5 points a game with Jordan Frericks right behind at 16 points. Tori Kuhn also averages double figures at 12 points a game and Morgan Martin just misses at 9.9 for an explosive team that twice scored 100 points in a game this season and four other times reached at least 90 points. Their only loss was to a team from Columbia, Missouri. Since 2008 Quincy has gone 32-2, 28-1, 30-3, 31-1 and is 31-1 this year.
Eight losses in the last six years? That is a quite a contrast to where Chargers coach Mark Fitzgerald has brought his ACC program from. They went 3-23 in his first year, then 13-14, 19-10 and now 25-6. A pair of 1-win seasons was what Aurora Central had in its record books before that. This current group of seniors started to turn things around as sophomore starters on the 13-14 team. Jackie Cardona leads that group at 13.1 points a game and also averages 5.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Tesa Alderman is next at 9.3 points a game followed by Ashley Wilk and Lisa Rodriguez at 7.5 and Katilyn Rosa at 7.3. Wilk grabs 9.6 rebounds a game and Rosa is at 8.3. The Chargers enter the game winners of 11 of 12, the only loss in that stretch in overtime to St. Edward.
Compiled by John Lemon