Saukees keep undefeated record intact after historic title run at Lady Tiger Classic

BEARDSTOWN, Ill. — For the first 41 years of the Beardstown Lady Tiger Classic, the Pittsfield girls basketball team had never so much as reached the championship game.

Now, in the 42nd edition, the Saukees have a tournament title to their name, and they will ring in the new year with a zero still in the loss column. Pittsfield defeated West Hancock 53-40 on Monday to capture their first Lady Tiger Classic crown and improve to 15-0.

“It’s nice to be on this end of it now,” Pittsfield coach Noah Mendenhall said. “I’m extremely proud of the girls and all the work they’ve put in to earn this.”

Freshman guard Reese Ramsey put a bow on her candidacy for the Terry Kennedy Outstanding Player Award with 23 points, 15 of which came in the first half. 

“I’m so proud of myself and my team,” Ramsey said. “It feels amazing, it really does.”

Mendenhall is grateful to have such a special talent like Ramsey, who is averaging 20 points per game.

“She’s an exceptional player,” Mendenhall said. “Players like that just don’t come around often. She’s averaging 20 and doing it with style and with class. She gets her 20, but once she draws two (defenders), she’s looking to kick, she’s looking to pass to the next open girl. She’s something special, for sure.”

Ramsey said Monday was one of those nights where everything was flowing.

“Honestly you just don’t really feel it,” Ramsey said. “You’re just locked in and zoned out. You’re just playing.”

The Titans took a 7-6 lead midway through the first quarter, but the Saukees went on a 9-0 run immediately after that, and the Titans scored just six points the rest of the half. Pittsfield took a 27-13 lead into halftime and forced 15 Titans turnovers in the opening half.

“We just had to focus and get our defense right, pressure the ball as much as we could and come together as a team,” Ramsey said.

Senior forward Madison Frieden said the Saukees are prone to some slow starts, but when they flip the switch, the avalanche is on.

“Once we kick it into high gear, we’re good and we’re on it,” Frieden said. “As soon as we start to feel like, ‘Oh, we need to pick it up,’ we pick it up. That’s usually it from there.” 

The Saukees’ lead grew to 46-26 by the end of the third quarter. Ramsey’s second 3-pointer of the game and first points of the second half gave them that 20-point advantage with 23 seconds left in the third, but it was not the first time the separation reached 20. Lincoln McCartney, another freshman and the Saukees’ second-leading scorer, drained two 3-pointers in the first 1:55 of the third quarter to stretch the lead to 35-15.

“I could feel our energy starting to pick up,” McCartney said. “After that, I knew we had it.”

West Hancock chipped away at that 20-point deficit and even got within single digits at 48-39 with 2:38 left but never get any closer.

“I was getting a little nervous, but I knew we had the grit to pull away from them,” McCartney said.

Jeff Sisk, the Titans’ acting head coach with Jerry Jerome unable to coach due to an illness, commended his team’s resolve in the final period.

“We kind of clawed our way back into it,” Sisk said. “I told them between the third and fourth, ‘We can either get blown out of here, or we can scratch and try to get ourselves back into it.’ We showed a lot of heart and made that effort.”

Sisk said the Titans’ switch from their traditional zone defense to man-to-man contributed a great deal to their rally bid.

“We’re a 1-3-1 team,” Sisk said. “That’s what we are, and we had to come out in man in that fourth quarter, which is not something we really practice, and we made good things happen out of that.”

The 10th-seeded Titans (12-6) also made their own bit of history by becoming the first double-digit seed to reach the tournament championship game. The Titans knocked off No. 2 seed Abingdon-Avon and No. 6 seed Carrollton to earn a shot at the title.

“That was a heck of a tournament for us,” Sisk said. “We beat some really good teams, learned a lot about ourselves and showed a lot of heart in that fourth quarter. That’s what we’re looking for.”

The Saukees lived up to their distinction as the tournament’s No. 1 seed by winning their four games by an average of 12 points. Their closest game came in a 60-53 contest on Saturday against No. 5 seed Brown County, the second meeting between the Saukees and Hornets in a tournament setting this season. Pittsfield topped Brown County 50-44 on Nov. 30 in Mt. Sterling to capture the Lady Hornet Classic championship. Brown County defeated Carrollton 60-51 on Monday to finish third in the Lady Tiger Classic.

“Brown County is a buzzsaw, and we’ve met them twice,” Mendenhall said. “There were just some buzzsaws that were here. Hats off to them because their programs are run well. We just have girls who love to compete and hate to lose. I’m blessed to have that.”

While McCartney had high expectations for the Saukees this season, even her most ambitious projections did not have the Saukees going 15-0 in the 2024 portion of their schedule.

“I knew we were going to be a solid team, but I never could have imagined this,” McCartney said. “We’re clicking so well together, and I’m so proud of us.”

As for how long the Saukees can keep their undefeated run going, Ramsey only paused for a split second before delivering an emphatic response.

“All year,” Ramsey said.

Frieden left a little more suspense in her answer.

“We’ll see,” Frieden said.

Only time will tell.