SAPPINGTON – Cor Jesu junior Lauren Ortwerth grew up watching her brother Zach, now a tight end at Iowa, play football.
And after the Chargers committed 28 turnovers against the Jackson full-court press in their first meeting, Ortwerth decided to break the press by becoming a quarterback throwing the deep ball.
“I’ve grown up watching my brother play the game of football, and if you have Maddie DiMaria, you throw it up every time,” Ortwerth said.
Ortwerth connected on three full-court bombs for layups, a signature of the excellence in transition displayed by the Chargers, as Cor Jesu defeated Jackson 54-42 to win the Class 6 District 1 championship Tuesday at Lindbergh High School.
Cor Jesu (20-7), which won its second consecutive district crown, will face Marquette in a Class 6 quarterfinal at noon Saturday at Vianney High School. It is a rematch of last year’s state quarterfinal won by Cor Jesu, 48-41.
“They’re hot at the right time,” Cor Jesu coach Andrew Althage said of Marquette. “It’s going to be fun.”
To earn that rematch, Cor Jesu first had to defeat Jackson, which entered the district championship game with a 25-1 overall record. Jackson defeated Cor Jesu 66-63 in double overtime on Feb. 22 despite Ortwerth accumulating 21 points and 23 rebounds.
The Indians made a concerted effort to stop Ortwerth on Tuesday, at times employing a triangle-and-two defense with the two players guarding Ortwerth. She scored only four points in the first half, but continued to make contributions through rebounding and defense.
“If I was going to be taken out of the game, I was going to do the little things I could control,” Ortwerth said. “If I had two on me, it left someone open for a shot and they did a good job knocking it down. It kind of threw a wrench in our system, but we handled it well.”
One of those contributions was the ability to launch full court passes to field hockey star Madi Beuligmann and soccer stars DiMaria and Roz Doherty, who caught the ball over their shoulders like wide receivers and dropped it into the basket without the need for a dribble.
“We’re all multiple sport athletes, so on the basketball court, we take all those different aspects and try to work together,” DiMaria said. “All season we’ve been emphasizing, ‘Get the ball, look down the court, run.’”
DiMaria not only outraced the Jackson defense, she also bottled up the Indians most prolifiic scorer, holding dynamic freshman Kate Deck scoreless in the first half.
“She’s an amazing player. I was tasked to stay in front of her, hand high, and it went pretty well,” DiMaria said.
After a fast-paced first quarter ended with the teams tied at 13, Ortwerth ignited the first spurt for the Chargers midway through the second. She put back an offensive rebound, then fired another full-court dart to Beuglimann for a three-point play as Cor Jesu went on a 12-2 run and took a seven-point lead into the locker room.
Cor Jesu had a 10-point lead at halftime during the February matchup with Jackson before the Indians’ full-court pressure turned the game chaotic, and Jackson rallied to send the game to overtime.
The Chargers remembered those lessons before emerging for the second half on Tuesday.
“The first time we played them, they did a good job of speeding us up. We knew we had to prepare for it. We did a good job of keeping our composure and using the middle of the floor where we could expose their pressure and get some layups,” Althage said.
Deck drained two triples early in the third quarter, but when Jackson scored, Cor Jesu responded with fast break layups. Ortwerth and Doherty scored in transition immediately after made baskets to keep Jackson from climbing closer than six points.
Ortwerth and Doherty led Cor Jesu with 12 points and exemplified the balanced scoring of the Chargers, which included nine-point performances from Beuglimann and junior Izzy Rohr.
Rohr earned the degree-of-difficulty award in the third quarter with a backwards, over-the-head shot that kissed off the glass to increase the Chargers’ lead to 11 points.
“That’s something we do in practice. Taking those reps helped and it went in,” Rohr said.
Jackson cut the deficit to six points midway through the fourth quarter, but Rohr hit a huge corner three to give Cor Jesu some much-needed breathing room.
“First half I missed a few shots, airballed one, but all you have to do when you get back in the game is forget about the first half, take the open shots, and do it for your team,” Rohr said.
Cor Jesu did the rest of its damage from the free throw line, converting 9-of-12 foul shots in the final three minutes to preserve the win.
The 42 points scored by Jackson was the second lowest total by Indians this season.
“I thought both teams played well. Our shots just didn’t fall,” Jackson coach Angela Fulton said. “They’re a good team. I thought transition-wise, they beat our press and beat us down the floor.”
She added, “We had a phenomenal year. You can’t hang your head on a 25-2 season. Take your hit, learn from it, and use it as motivation.”
And for Cor Jesu, which finished fourth in Class 6 last year, the quarterfinal matchup with Marquette brings the team one game closer to its preseason hopes.
“We set a goal to go back to the final four. All the hours we put in, that goal is starting to come alive, and we’re going to keep pushing,” DiMaria said.
See a Photo Gallery of the game by clicking the link below: