Sabers earn state qualifying spot with win over Marion
Feb. 24—DEWITT — According to junior Allie Meadows, the Central DeWitt girls basketball team achieved its greatest accomplishment ever Tuesday night.
The post-game celebration lived up to that statement.
"I think coming from the last two years, we hit that substate game and we failed both times," Meadows said. "Now, coming over that hump is one of our biggest accomplishments as a team ever and I couldn't be more proud of these girls."
The Sabers defeated Marion 46-35 in a Class 4A Region 5 Championship Tuesday at home, as the team officially earned a 2021 state qualifier spot.
"I just can't believe it," Sabers' junior Taylor Veach said. "We worked for this for so long and as a team, we've come so far, even from the beginning of the season, so this is greater than any other feeling, really."
"I told those girls, 'Teams like that aren't just going to give you the game. You have to go and take it,'" Central DeWitt coach Chad Specht said. "We started hot, very confident, we prepared well. The shots don't start to fall and you start to get uneasy, but I'm just so proud of how they responded.
"They went out and they got that game."
The Sabers started the game on a 19-3 run and eventually took a 24-9 first-quarter lead, but Marion hung tough — the Indians trailed 31-18 at halftime thanks in part to a near-half court buzzer beater, and outscored the Sabers 9-2 in a defensive third quarter. That made it a 33-27 Sabers' lead heading into the fourth.
Just a minute into the fourth quarter, Marion's Ella Van Weelden hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to cut the Sabers' lead to three points.
The Indians got a steal on the ensuing Saber possession, leading to a split pair of free throws to make it 33-31.
The Sabers knew they needed points.
"We were on fire first half, then we came in the locker room saying, 'We need to keep shooting,' and that unfortunately didn't work in the second half," Meadows said. "We had to figure it out and I think it comes down to trusting our teammates and we did a really good job of that and that's what got us that win."
At the 5:26 mark, Meadows got the ball on the baseline and put up a floater that found the bottom of the net for the team's first points since early in the third.
"Since they were coming out on our shooters really well, that baseline was wide open," Meadows said. "Unfortunately, we didn't see that until the end of the game. I was able to get that floater up and it felt really good."
The Sabers ended the game on an 11-4 run thanks to timely shots and free throws toward the end of the game.
"I knew it when we were at the free throw line and the game's not over until it's zero on the clock, but I think deep down, we had that feeling and we were so excited," Meadows said.
Veach said it's no surprise the team is able to gut out close wins like that.
"We're a lot more mentally stronger than we have been," Veach said. "We're confident in each other, we know we got this. When you trust in each other it just makes the game so much easier and more fun."
"Every kid through and through understanding roles and accepting roles, coming together and just bonding together," Specht said. "We've done that for three years. We've been knocking on the door and I think that experience and that maturity really helped us today, and playing in this conference, too."
