NEWTON —
Not many players have outscored Mount Carmel's Tyra Buss in nearly three full seasons - especially while guarding the junior sensation.
Teutopolis freshman Danielle Repking did it in her first crack at Buss, scoring 22 points and holding Buss to 20 as Teutopolis downed Mount Carmel 57-34.
It was the third straight year the Lady Shoes have knocked out the Lady Aces in sectional action, and the second time they have held Buss to 20 points or fewer.
"She's fast, and Mrs. T put me up to the challenge; I was willing to take it," Repking said. "I feel like she trusts me and has respect for me."
The Lady Aces entered Thursday's sectional final with a perfect 32-0 record. Teutopolis improves to 25-7 with the win.
It all started with Repking, who had the best game of her young Shoes career.
"My highest before that was 19 in the first game of the season," Repking said. "No one was really on me, I was wide open every time."
Teutopolis advances to Monday's Super-Sectional at Salem High School, where they face Nashville at 8 p.m., following the completion of the 1A Super-Sectional involving Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City.
Coach Laurie Thompson said Repking was their first option in a multi-faceted plan out of a box-and-one defense. They never needed to go to option two.
Buss was 7-of-24 from the field, scoring well below her average of 39 points per contest.
Thompson said she told Repking not to even worry about offense, that guarding Buss was her main goal.
"Her focus was to play defense on Tyra," Thompson said. "I told her not to worry about scoring. Maybe I need to tell her that more often.
"She had a nose for the ball tonight. She did her job and more tonight. "
Things were even early, as Buss drained two long threes to put the Aces up 9-6 about halfway through the first quarter.
But the offense got going behind Madeline Hartke, scoring five points in two minutes as Teutopolis took a 17-11 lead into the second quarter.
Buss would hit another three with 6:10 to go, and Maddie Dardeen hit one free throw to cut the lead to one point.
The vaunted Lady Shoe defense cracked down, holding the Lady Aces scoreless until the final second of the quarter, when Alyssa Lang hit a layup as time expired.
By that point, it was 28-17 Teutopolis and the Shoes would never look back.
While Repking was guarding Buss, often with help behind her, the rest of the Shoe defense remained aggressive on guarding the other four Aces.
"One of our keys tonight was no free throws and limit her layups," Thompson said. "I threw that in there last night, we hadn't practiced for Mount Carmel."
The Shoes ran the lead out to 18 points, up 39-21 with 3:05 left, but the Aces rattled off a 7-0 run to end the quarter and cut the lead to 11 points.
Teutopolis scored the next six points, taking a 17-point lead with six minutes left.
Repking put the game away at the line, scoring seven points in just more than a minute on free throws.
Thompson emptied the bench with a minute to go as the Shoes savored their victory.
Repking led the way with 22 points. Hartke scored 13 points down low, and Cierra Thompson had nine points.
No other Ace cleared four points as they shot 24 percent from the field.
Teutopolis 57, Mount Carmel 34
Teutopolis 17 11 11 18 - 57
Mount Carmel 11 6 11 6 - 34
Teutopolis - Giles 8, M. Hartke 13, Repking 22, THompson 9, Schumacher 4, Weichman 1
Mount Carmel - Dardeen 3, Buss 20, Tennis 2, Lang 4, Rosignol 2, Keepes 3
