Mt. Pulaski Lady Toppers complete
season with second place finish at State; fall 49-34 to Deer Creek -
Mackinaw in championship game
[March 09, 2026]
After losing the regional championship by two points last
season to Roanoke-Benson the 2025-26 Lady Toppers team had one goal:
to make it to Redbird Arena this season.
Not only did they make it to what is now CEFCU Arena on the campus
on Illinois State University but they took an entire community that
stretched throughout Logan County with them and they brought home
the hardware!
There were no tears, only cheers, when team captains Aly Murphy and
Elayna Marten stepped forward to accept the 2026 IHSA Class 1A State
2nd Place trophy on Saturday at 11:44 a.m. on Doug Collins Court.
Hilltopper fans showed out on Saturday morning, not just filling the
seats of the arena but also caravanning to Normal, Illinois on Route
66 and Interstate 55.
The team bus driven by Marty Spear was escorted through Lincoln and
even Chris Martin had his semi pulling a trailer with bales of hay
that were painted with the words: Go Toppers, Coach Stay Calm and
State Bound.
The Lincoln Rural Fire Department escorted the bus on the exit
outside of Lincoln towards Interstate 55 while the semi-trailer with
bales of hay trucked down Route 66.
Cars could be seen for miles traveling behind the bus.
At CEFCU Arena the Mount Pulaski fan section was filled with
everyone wearing purple thanks to the latest t-shirt design by
Topper Tees. Tricia Campbell guides the student-run business at MPHS
and they really worked overtime creating over 300 t-shirts for the
state tournament. The team slogan was: “Bring the Energy” with the
words “Mount Pulaski Girls Basketball 2025-2026 ~ The Run to
Redbird” printed beneath the catchy slogan.
It was a magical season for the Lady Toppers and despite falling to
the Deer Creek-Mackinaw Chiefs 49-34 in the state championship game
of the 2026 IHSA Class 1A State Girls Basketball Tournament each
player and coach has multiple reasons to be proud. These girls
battled with the big girls and came out with bumps and bruises and
the final score did not reflect how close the game truly was between
the two teams.
Mount Pulaski led the game by three points at the half.
Dee-Mack led by three points at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter could have gone either way to start but it was
Dee-Mack pouring in 19 points and Mount Pulaski’s Alyson Murphy
scoring all seven points for the Lady Toppers.
First quarter
The game tipped off at 10:12 a.m. and it was Dee-Mack’s 6’1
sophomore Anna Schmidgall barely getting the tip over Mount
Pulaski’s 5’10 sophomore Olivia Smith. Just over thirty seconds into
the game Riley Durbin would put the Chiefs on the board first with a
three.
Mount Pulaski’s first possession was a tough one with Dee-Mack’s 6’1
senior all-stater Dalia Dejesus blocking Smith’s shot and then
swatting the ball away when Alyson Murphy drove to the basket.
Luckily, Murphy was fouled and went to the line to make one shot to
put Mount Pulaski on the board.
Murphy was able to tie the game at the 4:05 mark on an outside
jumper that was nothing but net. Elayna Marten gave Mount Pulaski a
4-3 lead when she drew a foul from Dejesus on a drive to the basket.
The Chiefs took the lead back on a three by Jaelyn Nunley at the
2:34 mark and they extended it on another three by Durbin at the
1:44 mark.
Mount Pulaski missed five attempts from beyond the arc in the first
quarter and after Smith’s shot in the paint was blocked with five
seconds left the Chiefs would walk away from the first quarter on
top 9-4. Dejesus did not score in the first quarter, but she was
monumental in having six rebounds and three blocks.
Second quarter
Mount Pulaski outscored Dee-Mack in the second quarter and took a
lead into the locker room. After a three by Nunley to open the
scoring, Audrey Cooper was quick to answer with a three on the
assist from Smith to cut the Chiefs lead to 12-7. At the 5:45 mark
Smith scored in the paint over the outstretched arm of Dejesus to
make the score 12-9. It was Addison Brown who had pulled down a
rebound off the missed shot by Elayna Marten and Brown’s bounce pass
just got around Dejesus and into the hands of Smith. Just over a
minute later the Mount Pulaski crowd had plenty to cheer about as
Brown sank a corner three in front of the Chiefs student section
that tied the game 12-12.
Kate Schmidgall’s bucket in the paint put the Chiefs back on top
seconds later and then at the 3:07 mark it was Murphy with a steal
and fast break layup to tie the score again.
Marten put Mount Pulaski in front 16-14 when she drove the middle of
the lane and tossed the ball over the tall girls and after it
bounced off the back of the rim it fell through the net. Finally,
Mount Pulaski was catching a break.
Dejesus made her first bucket at the 1:24 mark and once again the
score was tied. Brown broke the tie with :56 seconds left when she
sank another three in front of the Chiefs fans. Both Murphy and
Dejesus would miss shots for their teams with under twenty seconds
left and Mount Pulaski held a 19-16 advantage over Dee-Mack.
At the half, both Alyson Murphy and Dalia Dejesus were recognized on
the court along with the rest of the 2026 IBCA All-State Girls
Basketball selections. Murphy stayed on the court for a moment to be
recognized while her team waited for her before jogging to the
locker room together. Dejesus did not stay on the court but several
girls from schools around the state were recognized as first team
all-state selections.
Elayna Marten and Addison Brown of Mount Pulaski were also given
Special Mention honors on the 2026 IBCA team.
Third quarter
The Chiefs started the quarter on a 5-0 run and Mount Pulaski
started with a couple air balls. Durbin banked in a three to get her
team to a tie and then it was Dejesus in the paint for the lead.
Smith tied the game for Mount Pulaski with two points in the paint.
After Dejesus made a bucket to put the Chiefs in front 23-21 it was
Cooper with a steal and Murphy on the fast break to tie the score
yet again.
Dejesus made a nice move in the lane to put her team back on top at
the 3:10 mark. Marten was calm, cool and collected when she tied the
game at the free throw line with 2:00 on the clock. Marten swished
both shots for a 25-25 score.
A two from Dejesus and a three from Nunley put the Chiefs back in
front but with Murphy fouled on the jump shot with 3.3 seconds left
she made both shots to trim the lead to 30-27 when the quarter
ended.
Fourth quarter
Kate Schmidgall scored the first basket of the quarter at the 6:29
mark and the Dee-Mack lead was now five points. Ten seconds later
Murphy was going coast-to-coast on a layup for Mount Pulaski. But
after Murphy’s bucket it was Anna Schmidgall with a three and it
really didn’t matter if Dee-Mack’s tall girls were playing inside or
outside, they still had a good chance to score. The score was now
35-29.
After Cooper missed a three and Murphy picked up a foul, the Chiefs
started to pull away with a bigger lead. DeJesus and Kate Schmidgall
both scored in the paint and that drove the Chiefs to a double-digit
lead. The score was 39-29 at the 4:39 mark.
Murphy’s next best effort was a short jumper that was blocked by
Dejesus. Meanwhile, moving to the other end Dejesus sank two free
throws after a foul was called on Smith.
Marten was the recipient of Dejesus’ sixth block of the game when
she tried to enter the paint and score at the 3:45 mark. Dejesus
really didn’t have to jump. At 6’1 it was just a reach and a swat at
the ball and with a 41-29 lead the Chiefs were in the driver’s seat
now.
By the 3:09 mark Nunley had sank two more free throws and the Lady
Toppers had exhausted their game plan.
Murphy was able to score on a drive at the 3:00 mark. Her and her
team were not about to surrender yet. At one point Murphy and
Dejesus were on the floor diving after the ball. Murphy would also
bank in a three at the 2:00 mark but still Mount Pulaski trailed
43-34.
The Lady Toppers missed a few opportunities in the paint to score
near the end of the game. A couple of the shots just floated around
the rim and out. Murphy and Marten each missed a three attempt.
Mount Pulaski was forced to foul to stop the clock, sending the
Chiefs to the line where they made 6-of-8 free throws and sealed the
49-34 win in the final minute and a half. With twenty-seven seconds
left McVickers went to his bench. Mackenzie Johnston, Elyssa Marten,
Eva Leonard, Piper Tyson and Andrea Noltensmeier all entered the
game. Noltensmeier tossed up a three attempt at the prompting of the
student section with ten seconds left and even that was an airball.
Mount Pulaski was 3-for-15 from the field in the fourth quarter and
had zero chances at the free throw line.
Dee-Mack was 4-for-9 from the field and shot 10-for-14 from the free
throw line in the fourth quarter that definitely decided the outcome
of the game.
Alyson Murphy led Mount Pulaski in scoring with 16 points.
Addison Brown finished with six points and six rebounds.
Audrey Cooper led the team with eight rebounds.
Dee-Mack barely out rebounded Mount Pulaski as a team 34-32.
That is an incredible stat given that Dee-Mack had two girls who
were 6’1 and Olivia Smith is Mount Pulaski’s tallest starter at
5’10.
Mount Pulaski manager Steve Nichols has to be proud of that
rebounding stat.
Dalia Dejesus led Dee-Mack with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Riley Durbin and Jaelyn Nunley each had 11 points for the Chiefs.
Head coach Ryan McVickers reiterated in the postgame interview that
his girls are absolute warriors and they battled against the Chiefs.
“They were bigger than us. They were stronger than us. But we held
our own and we battled. As far as the whole scope of the season,
it’s been a fun ride. Just an unbelievable year. It hasn’t even set
in yet that it’s over. I told my two seniors that not too many
coaches get to play that last game. Like we knew this was going to
be it. I will always cherish every single extra minute that I got
with them because some seniors are done in the regionals and
sectionals. I got to spend the entire time with these two,”
McVickers said, pointing to Alyson Murphy and Elayna Marten each
seated next to him. “And I love them so much.”
Besides leading their team in scoring with 16 points each on
Saturday and being named IBCA First Team All-State selections,
Alyson Murphy and Dalia Dejesus have something else in common. They
were once teammates. The two played together on the Heart of
Illinois National team out of Peoria between their 8th grade and
freshman year of high school. They were also joined on HOI by
another all-state player, Avery Tibbs, who led her Washington
Panthers to a Class 3A state championship on Saturday.
Murphy knew on Saturday that the Toppers would need to contain
Dejesus.
“We came out with a game plan and it was to not let Dalia touch the
ball,” said Murphy. “But she’s a tremendous athlete. She’s bigger
than us and I feel like we did a very good job of getting in front
of her and not allowing her to score early. But in the second half
she started posting up more and that kind of hurt us a little bit.
She is a great athlete and I’ll always say that.”
Mount Pulaski held Dejesus to just two points in the first half. She
scored eight points in the third quarter and six in the final
quarter.
McVickers agreed with what Murphy said.
“We knew coming in Dalia is a really good basketball player,” said
McVickers. “She had thirty points in the semifinal game so coming in
that was our main goal. We have to stop her. I thought we did a
pretty good job on her but what we weren’t expecting were those
other girls to hit all those threes. Coming into the game we’re
usually the team that hits a bunch of threes and I think we only had
four and I think they had seven. So had you told me that to start
the game, I knew that we would probably be in trouble.”
Both Murphy and fellow senior Elayna Marten set the bar high this
season with a goal of going to Redbird Arena.
“At the beginning of the season we set the goal and we knew that
this year we really wanted to make it here,” said Marten. “We just
wanted to push every single day to get here and we did that and I
couldn’t be more proud of all of us.”
“I am just super thankful that I have these girls by my side,” added
Murphy. “I am super thankful that we made it this far with this
particular group of girls because these girls come in every single
day and we work really hard at practices and we set the bar pretty
high at the beginning of the season. And we made it.”
[to top of second column] |
2026 IHSA Class 1A State runner-up Mt. Pulaski Lady Toppers. Photo
by Teena Lowery.
“Our community is the best community around,” continued Murphy when
asked about memories from the season. “I’ve said this before that
you would never be able to tell that we have like 1800 people in our
town. Every single person comes out from our town and surrounding
towns. The whole Logan County showed up for us today and they are
just all amazing.”
Addison Brown chimed in with a story about the hay bales on the
trailer, all provided by local farmer Chris Martin.
“We have a semi that has hay bales on it and at the beginning of the
season it just said, “Go Toppers and Coach Stay Calm” on it. We love
it,” said Brown. “They would move it to like every exit we would
exit on. Thursday and today on the other side they put State Bound.
And they would race down the side of the road with us and follow the
bus. We all just loved it. We have so many videos. We are so glad
that our community does such a thing for us.”
As for the two departing seniors, Murphy and Marten are leaving
behind a huge legacy. The Varsity teams throughout their high school
careers won a total of 100 games under McVickers, who just completed
his sixth year as the head coach.
“Alyson Murphy has started from day one of her freshman year and
Elayna Marten has started the last two years with a couple different
spot starts her freshman and sophomore years,” said McVickers.
“These two have really impacted this program and really built up
this program over their four years.”
As for a final message for his two seniors, McVickers smiled and
laughed and said, “I told them that I loved them. I did. They’ve
been two just very special players. Special people. And I love
them.”
Murphy will continue her academic and athletic career at Lake Land
College in Mattoon. She leaves MPHS with 2,173 career points.
Mount Pulaski ends the season with a 33-2 record.
The 33 wins is a record for Mount Pulaski High School basketball
boys or girls. Period.
Dee-Mack finished the season with a 34-3 record.
This was the first state appearance for the Chiefs.
McVickers looks forward to a strong future for Mount Pulaski girls
basketball.
“Winning makes other winners,” said McVickers. “We’ve won over 20
games the last five years. Winning is kind of contagious. Once you
start winning it’s like we don’t know how to lose. We are going to
take that mindset into next year. We’ve got a ton of pieces coming
back. Yes, we do have two really good seniors leaving but we’re
loaded with juniors. We’ve got a sophomore, Liv Smith, and a
freshman, Ella Martin, to come in and fill those holes. So we’ll be
back.”
Given the number of young and enthusiastic kids in attendance at the
games this season it’s pretty evident that they’ve been inspired by
this group of girls. Just like the Lincoln Lady Railer basketball
program, the Mount Pulaski girls basketball program has a bright
future ahead. More young athletes are playing on travel teams. In
fact, McVickers will be transitioning to watching his own
third-grader play in an AAU league in Springfield at the new
Springfield Clinic Dome at Scheels Sports Park starting tonight.
Some final mentions:
Hats off to these Mount Pulaski girls for making their way past
Edwards County and Brown County, two teams with multiple six-foot
girls and multiple all-state selections as well. Just this week
Topper fans have seen these girls hit clutch shots and play
phenomenal defense in order to knock off these bigger teams.
Mount Pulaski also went into the state tournament as the smallest
school with an enrollment of 174 students. This is the first year
Deer Creek-Mackinaw is a 1A school. Dee-Mack has 291 students.
Mount Pulaski finished in 2nd place in the 2013 IHSA Class 1A State
Basketball tournament. That team coached by Eric Leever finished the
season with a 29-5 record.
While McVickers admittedly does all the talking for the coaching
staff, he is joined on the staff by Isabella Wade, who has been with
him since the beginning. Chris Brown has also been with McVickers on
the bench for a number of years. Heidi Zenor joined the coaching
staff three years ago and McVickers said that she compliments his
coaching very well. She is very defense-oriented. Zenor also
appreciates McVickers’ willingness to take coaching advice from her.
Zenor is from a small town in Indiana and she has fit right in as a
teacher and coach at Mount Pulaski High School. Zenor brought a tape
measure with her to CEFCU Arena and measured the distance from the
free throw to the basket to prove a point to the players. Lincoln’s
Bob Verderber assisted Zenor by holding the other end of the tape
measure.
“Since I am from Indiana and lived there for forty-nine and
three-fourth years of my life, I watched the movie “Hoosiers” every
game before my senior year, the clips,” said Zenor. “I’ve just
always lived and breathed that. My dad passed away nineteen years
ago and I was 15 years old when he got sick and that was his tape
measure that I used that I keep in my truck door. I’ve kept it since
he passed.”
On Thursday when the team arrived at CEFCU Arena ahead of the 10:00
a.m. game, Zenor went right to the court to take the measurements.
“I measured the distance to the free throw line,” said Zenor. “I
didn’t have a person to put on my shoulders like in the movie but
that’s okay, to measure the height. But we measured just to prove
that every gym is the same.”
Zenor returned to the locker room to tell the girls that every gym
is the same. And she’s got pictures with Bobby Verderber to prove
it.
Now for some “Bower Power” but the Mount Pulaski version.
Everyone in Logan County knows Lady Railer legend Jan Bowers from
her success as a player and a coach in Lincoln. Mount Pulaski High
School students have had the privilege of knowing her as a math
teacher and the kids adore and respect her. Bowers and Alyson Murphy
were talking with each other after the press conference on Saturday
when Murphy said the words: Murphy-Bower-Power.
That has to be a story here.
“Elayna Marten wrote “Bower-Power” on the little whiteboard outside
my classroom early in the year, not knowing that was my nickname in
high school,” said Bowers. “I would fist bump the girls the day of
the game and they would say, “Give me some of that “Bower-Power.”
“Before the first regional game, Alyson said it after a fist bump
and I said, “You don’t need it. You have “Murphy-Power.” She came
right back with, “Yea, but what if I had “Murphy-Bower-Power” and
that became the saying with the fist bump for all the rest of the
games.”
It is also worth mentioning the value that both Jan Bowers and Bob
Verderber brought to the postseason with their WLCN broadcasts.
Mount Pulaski was lucky to have two Lincoln legends jump on board
with their knowledge and passion for the game and not just bring
that to the table but also a new fan base along the way. For the
rest of time, Mount Pulaski fans can enjoy their call on the
broadcasts on YouTube. Both Jan and Bobby V. sported purple shirts
and purple pride while taking folks along for the ride this
postseason.
Finally, Mount Pulaski loves to celebrate its champions with a
police and fire escort around the town square following their return
from any state tournament. It’s a pretty familiar sight and sound to
the locals. The usual pizza party at Pizza Man is a tradition that
has lasted for decades. The bus always stops under the water tower
to let the players off and you just don’t get any more small town
than that.
The community also gathered to celebrate the team on Sunday
afternoon at Mount Pulaski High School. Athletic Director Joel
Washko gave opening remarks and thanked everyone for their support
this season. Coach McVickers and his staff also took the mic as well
as several players who were brave enough to talk in front of the
large crowd. The players also signed autographs after the reception
for kids and adults. Lots of photos were taken with the recent
plaques and the state trophy placed on a table and most importantly,
there were lots of smiles. The memories made this season will last a
lifetime.
Congratulations, Lady Toppers, on a phenomenal history-making
season!
Now here is the list of the players and coaches of the 2025-2026
Mount Pulaski Lady Toppers:
Addison Brown
Mackenzie Johnston
Alyson Murphy
Elayna Marten
Elyssa Marten
Claire Bobell
Eva Leonard
Haylee Werts
Olivia Smith
Cami Killion
Audrey Cooper
Ella Martin
Piper Tyson
Andrea Noltensmeier
Ryan McVickers
Chris Brown
Isabella Wade
Heidi Zenor
And last but not least, Manager Steve Nichols!
The final points for the last game of the season:
Mount Pulaski 34
Murphy 16
Brown 6
Marten 5
Smith 4
Cooper 3
[Teena Lowery] |
