Not many schools in Illinois can say they have gone 93 years between state basketball championships.
Hinsdale Central now can.
The school’s first title was won by the boys in 1909. This time it was Hinsdale Central’s girls who did it with a stunning 43-38 victory over No. 1 Marian Catholic in the Class AA championship game in Redbird Arena on Saturday night.
Melanie Ploger proved to be Marian Catholic’s undoing in a game between two teams making their first visit to the girls Elite Eight. She led the fourth-ranked Red Devils, who won their last 28 games, with 17 points–10 of them in the fourth quarter.
“Our team took what Marian gave us,” the 5-foot-5-inch junior said. “They were leaving me open.”
Ploger didn’t make any three-pointers in the semifinal victory over previously unbeaten Lake Zurich earlier in the day, but she made up for it in the final with three.
Two of those came in the fourth quarter when the Red Devils (34-1) took a 15-point lead on the way to the school’s 64th state sports championship.
Her free-throw shooting also proved crucial, especially at the end of the first half.
Ploger was fouled by 6-foot-4-inch Maureen Simon with three seconds left in the second quarter, sending her to the foul line with the game tied 13-13. Worse for Marian Catholic, a technical foul was given to Spartans coach Shannon Reidy for complaining about the call.
“Same call Maureen got all year,” said Reidy, who said all Simon did was stand straight up. “All I said was bull. I hadn’t said anything up until then the whole game.”
Ploger went to the line and hit all four free throws and Hinsdale Central found itself with a 17-13 lead going into the locker room.
“It gave us a lot of momentum,” Ploger said.
Hinsdale Central continued to build its lead, and when sophomore Stefanie Reiff, who was brought up to the varsity at Christmas, scored with five seconds left in the third quarter, the Red Devils had a 30-19 lead.
A three-pointer from Reiff with 5:39 left gave Hinsdale Central a 39-24 lead. But Marian Catholic is not the kind of team to give in easily. The Spartans (31-2) had trailed Marshall by 14 points in the quarterfinals and tied Neuqua Valley in the last second of regulation before winning their semifinal in overtime.
Missy Mitidiero, who led Marian Catholic with 15 points, scored twice in a 10-0 run to cut Hinsdale Central’s lead to 39-34 with 2:12 left.
But the Red Devils were able to hang on with Ploger scoring the team’s last four points.
“I can’t even describe it–it’s terrific,” said Hinsdale coach Steve Gross, who has put together an impressive 206-38 record in eight seasons. If that’s impressive, consider the last three seasons remarkable: 94-4.
“This caps it off,” said Hinsdale’s Maggie Acuna, who contributed six points and seven assists in the victory–her 114th in 128 career games at the school. The Illinois-bound senior led all players in the finals with 21 assists and 13 steals.
Morgan Kasperek, headed for Iowa, came up with six points and six rebounds while Kirstin Nelson led the Red Devils with nine rebounds.
This was the lowest-scoring title game in Class AA history, but not nearly as low as last weekend’s Class A championship, a 24-20 final won by Carrollton. Hinsdale Central’s 43 points were the lowest (by one point) for a winning Class AA team. But the 38 points the Red Devils allowed Marian was a season low for the Spartans.
“I think both teams played great defense,” Reidy said. “We didn’t get any points out of our inside game.”
Said Ploger: “Every game lately we’ve been the underdog. So we came out with nothing to lose.”
And the Red Devils didn’t.
