ExpandWatseka water tower (Daily Journal/Tiffany Blanchette) WATSEKA – The April 1 election is fast approaching and for the voters of Watseka, they have 10 aldermanic candidates running for office. That many aldermanic candidates has not been seen in many years, according to a release from the group Community Stakeholders. All four wards have contested races. Each ward is represented by two alderman, but in this election cycle only one member of each ward will be elected. For this reason the Stakeholders Committee, an ad hoc committee, was formed to help make sure the voters of Watseka are fully informed, the committee said in the release. This group is not associated with any of the candidates, accordingn to the release. The committee is hosting a candidates forum beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, at 119 W. Walnut St. in Watseka. The residents of Watseka will also be electing a new mayor. Mayor John Allhands, who has served as mayor since May 2016, announced in October he would not seek a third term as he will be moving to Tennessee. In the past couple of years, the city has faced important and controversial issues, according to the release. The committee said in the release it is planned that questions will be submitted by members of the local press and media. Questions will be accepted from the public, subject to review. The hope of the committee is this forum will help inform voters and residents as to the issues and candidates. Copyright © 2023 Shaw Local News Network The marquee of the restored Watseka Theatre the architect who designed the Sears Tower and The Hancock Building Canned Heat drew a large crowd during the weekend at The Watseka Theatre Canned Heat performs during the weekend at The Watseka Theatre The Watseka Theatre was nearly full when it hosted a recent Beatles vs which they bought from the city of The Dalles Gomez and Liddell also own The Watseka Theatre It’s all part of a life in the music business for Gomez Mick Jagger and Roger Ebert among the people with whom he has rubbed shoulders WATSEKA — The Marx Brothers performed there the Watseka Theatre was part of the vaudeville circuit toured the theater after it had sat vacant for 20 years They could almost hear the ghosts of entertainers past who had performed there who had signed their names to the theater walls It’s a place where memories are made and dreams formed Motivated by its history and the possibilities and returned entertainment to downtown Watseka Mick Jagger and Roger Ebert among the people with whom he has rubbed shoulders professionally The renovation was just one of the comebacks with which the Gomezes have dealt at the theater The COVID-19 pandemic landed a blow to Watseka and the theater’s economy “We were doing 40-50 shows a year before COVID,” Chuck Gomez said “Everything from Bret Michaels to Ronnie Milsap to the Marshall Tucker Band Gomez called it “one of our best shows ever,” with fans attending from Ohio Gomez and Liddell sent out a local mass mailing and had a packed house of the “who’s who of Watseka — doctors When the Marshall Tucker Band performed there the first time and they wanted to see them in a small setting.” (The theater seats 400.) Fans from New Zealand flew in to see Marty Stuart perform Four people from Alaska came to see Crystal Gayle sing Gomez and Liddell also own The Granada Theatre The couple appreciate the history of American entertainment They loved the fact that many of the vaudeville entertainers had signed the back wall of the Watseka stage who is a retired projectionist who had worked at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall He had the largest collection of vaudeville playbills and handbills “We showed him half of the autographs on the wall,” Gomez said but members of an opera company who performed there took it upon themselves Gomez got to know Ebert when a band Gomez was in had a studio next to Ebert’s home “We’d talk to him a little bit,” Gomez said Gomez called Ebert and asked him if the Watseka Theatre could host the second showing of Ebert’s film festival movies Ebert gave permission to show some of the films that he had featured in his Champaign festival the week before One film was “Man With a Movie Camera,” a 1929 Russian-made “incredible movie” set in Odessa Gomez spoke with three women in the audience the theater showed free vintage movies on Tuesday mornings for senior citizens who grew up in Harvey on Chicago’s South Side and attended Southern Illinois University came to central Illinois when he took a band director’s job in Cissna Park schools which I still own,” just down the street from the theater Gomez is passionate about vintage theaters His initial efforts to buy the theater were met with red tape after the original owner’s death He found the new owner years later and was able to buy the building Looking back on the history of the Watseka Theatre the manager stepped out on stage moments before the movie started and informed those in the audience that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese Gomez said he was told a small group of men decided to enlist in the military after hearing that news Other couples told him that’s where they met and fell in love who designed the Hancock Center and the Sears Tower “It was the heart of the community,” Gomez said you went to the theater” for entertainment Gomez and Liddell have modernized the theater Gomez’ experience working in the mayor of Chicago’s office in special events came in handy in which he produced a number of concerts and events He served as personal production assistant to Paul and Linda McCartney during a Wings tour Gomez remembers how down to earth and friendly McCartney and his wife when Wings was scheduled to play at Soldier Field Linda asked him to run to the store and pick up some things — things like bobby pins “Who would want one nylon?” so he told the woman to give him three just to be safe He remembers the former Beatle sitting on the floor trying out vintage guitars and asking Gomez how they sounded “I want one like George (Harrison) has,” a Gretsch Gomez will never forget an encounter with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones While Gomez sat backstage at a Blues Fest event in Chicago where Chuck Berry was jamming with some of the band from The Blues Brothers Richards greeted Gomez and asked if he knew where he could borrow a guitar Gomez disappeared and borrowed a guitar from a young musician who had just bought it who proceeded to pull a Bowie knife out of his belt and carved “K.R.” on the back “He has no idea whose (guitar) it is,” Gomez said When Gomez later handed it back to the young guitarist This is great!” He owned a guitar that Richards had played and on which he etched his initials Richards’ Rolling Stones bandmate Mick Jagger sat in with a band Gomez was playing in at a blues club Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time e-mail us at perrotto_21@hotmail.com or call us at 815-432-5227 2025 at 2:00 pm CDTTwo memorial monuments honoring the sacrifices of Gold Star families those who have lost love ones in active military duty A dedication ceremony for the Bourbonnais Gold Star Families Memorial Monument is set for 10 a.m Additional parking will be available at Grace United Community Methodist Church A reception will follow in the village of Bourbonnais’ Community Room a member of Boy Scouts of America Troop 319G is behind the planning and fundraising of the monument for her Eagle Scout Service Project A dedication ceremony for the Watseka Gold Star Families Memorial Monument is set for 1 p.m Saturday at Legion Park on South Fourth Street in Watseka Project co-chair Scott Allen said the monument has been in the works since August 2023 the gathering will move to The Silo Pub and Eatery Established by the Woody Williams Foundation, each monument is a two-sided tribute made of black granite. One side bears the words, “Gold Star Families Memorial Monument - A tribute to Gold Star Families and Relatives who sacrificed a Loved One for our Freedom,” and the other side tells a story through four granite panels: Homeland, Family, Patriot and Sacrifice. At the center of the tribute is a silhouette of a saluting service member which represents the legacy of loved ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the nation’s freedom. More than 140 monuments have been erected across all 50 states and another 49 are currently in progress, according to the Woody Williams site. ExpandThe Watseka-Milford girls basketball team poses with their plaque after beating Hoopeston in the championship game of the IHSA Class 2A Watseka Regional on Feb WATSEKA − The Watseka-Milford girls basketball team did not trail in Thursday’s championship game of the Class 2A Watseka Regional, although it came close late in the game. Hoopeston cut the Warriors' lead to 36-35 with just over two minutes to go, the closest it had been since Watseka-Milford led 2-1. But the Warriors quickly gathered themselves, went on a 7-0 run to close the game, and won the regional title for the fourth season in a row. Watseka, in the first season of its co-op with Milford, improved to 27-4 overall on the season with the 43-35 victory, reaching 27 wins for the second straight season. That 27th win did not come easy, though. The Warriors carried a 10-point lead into halftime, but coach Barry Bauer said the team was prepared for Hoopeston to push hard in the second half. When the Cornjerkers did just that, and cut the Warriors' lead to one point late, he said he loved how the team responded. “We kept telling them the whole second half that it was going to be about poise,” Bauer said. “We had a really good first half, we got [Hoopeston] down, so we knew they were going to come out a little more intense and with more physicality. We wanted to show poise, and I think we did. The last two minutes, I think we really took care of the ball and we did exactly what we wanted to do to finish that off.” Watseka-Milford had built up a 36-25 lead late in the third quarter before the Cornjerkers bridged the third and fourth with a 10-0 run. The Warriors managed to stop the bleeding with 1:24 to go when Thayren Rigsby converted a huge three-point play to go back up 39-35 and break the team’s scoring drought. Megan Martin followed with a minute to go, scoring the final two of her game-high 20 points, and a pair of free throws from Noelle Schroeder with 28 seconds to go all but eliminated any chance of a Cornjerkers comeback. Martin, who added a team-high 16 rebounds to go with her 20 points, said the team has been preparing for the kind of late-game situations they found themselves in Thursday, and that work paid off. “Coach Bauer and our team have been working in practice day in and day out focusing on end-of-game play, and just really focusing on composure is our big takeaway from practice into games,” she said. Schroeder finished with eight points. She knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first half to precede her late free throws. Lauren Tegtmeyer had six points to go with a dozen rebounds. Tegtmeyer and Martin are the only seniors on the roster for Watseka-Milford, and both have been with the Warriors for all four regional titles. “I just told the seniors how proud I was, because that senior group is the first group that’s won four, and it’s just Megan and Lauren,” he said. “It’s not possible to break that record.” Martin said that the pride of being a part of four regional-championship teams is something she will carry with her into the future. “I think what’s going to matter most is coming back to the gym 20 years from now and seeing those regional titles on the wall, and being proud that I did it with some of my best friends,” she said. “Being a part of this great program, it’s a really good feeling.” Watseka-Milford will now head into semifinals of the Herscher Sectional Feb. 25 to face a seventh-seeded Reed-Custer team that beat top seed Coal City in the regional semis before downing Joliet Catholic in the title game Thursday. A few clouds. Areas of patchy fog developing. Low 47F. Winds light and variable. ExpandBishop McNamara players surround teammate Trinity Davis, center, to celebrate as the Fightin' Irish secured a 69-38 victory over Watseka-Milford in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional championship on Thursday, Feb. 27. (Tiffany Blanchette) HERSCHER – When Trinity Davis banked in an improbable half-court buzzer-beater to put the Bishop McNamara girls basketball team up 27-25 at halftime of Thursday’s IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional championship against Watseka-Milford, the senior guard was jubilantly mobbed by her teammates and coaches on the way to the locker room. But once the Fightin' Irish made it inside, their jubilation turned to focus as head coach Khadazhia Sanders let them know they weren’t playing the way they needed to against a quality Warriors team. "I was fired up and kind of got on them," Sanders said. “I told them we’re not doing enough, especially when it’s win or go home.” Her message clearly resonated, as the Irish came out of the gate on all cylinders in the second half, going on a quick 9-2 spurt out of the break that set the stage for perhaps the team’s best half this season, pulling away for a 69-38 victory and the sectional plaque that came with it. It’s the 10th sectional championship in program history and first since 2019 for the Irish, who improved to 27-7 and advanced to Monday’s Tolono Unity Super-Sectional against Mt. Carmel. The Warriors' bid for their first-ever sectional title came up a game shy, finishing the year at 28-5. ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 17Bishop McNamara's Trinity Davis hoists the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional championship plaque as the student fan section joins the team to celebrate on the court following the Fightin' Irish's 69-38 victory over Watseka-Milford on Thursday, Feb. 27. (Tiffany Blanchette) “It feels very exciting and rewarding, knowing that our school hasn’t had a sectional champion in a while,” Davis, who scored a game-high 22 points, said. “I felt like it was coming to us.” After Megan Martin’s putback at the first-quarter buzzer locked the game at 13 apiece, it was the Warriors who made the first run of the game when they opened the second quarter on a 10-2 run, thanks in large part to big 3-pointers from Noelle Schroeder and Rennah Barrett. But the Irish clawed back to eventually take their first lead of the second quarter just as it ended. With three seconds left in the half, Davis took an in-bounds pass, worked around a screen from Lydia Nugent and pulled up a step inside the half-court line, banking in one of the most notable shots in the program’s storied history. “It was the ultimate boost,” Sanders said of Davis' half-court heave. “One, we took the lead, but it’s a funny thing, because Trinity practices those half-court shots in practice all the time. … To see what she’s been doing in practice come to fruition in a game, it’s crazy. I kept telling her, ‘You haven’t done it all year,’ and then boom, she does that." The Warriors quickly went back up by a point on their first possession of the third quarter, but the Irish quickly responded by scoring the game’s next nine points and then ending the third on a 13-4 run in the final three minutes of the frame and outscoring the Warriors 17-4 in the fourth. While Sanders said that every player who saw the floor Thursday performed their roles to perfection, it was the three-headed monster of Davis, Leigha Brown and Trinitee Thompson that helped them pull away. Davis had 14 second-half points while Thompson (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Brown (14 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists) both recorded double-doubles and were tasked with guarding Warriors star forward Martin, who was held to three second-half points. “Those three have propelled us all season, and any time it gets down to the wire, you always go back to the level of training you have and belief you have in your teammates,” Sanders said. “Those three put the team on their backs and marched us to the finish line while everyone else contributed the way they needed to.” Bishop McNamara's Leigha Brown looks to shoot under pressure from Watseka-Milford's Rennah Barrett, left, Megan Martin, center, and Thayren Rigsby during the Fightin' Irish's 69-38 victory over Watseka-Milford in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional championship on Thursday, Feb. 27. (Tiffany Blanchette) As the Irish received their plaque and were greeted by their fans, the Warriors closed the chapter on yet another stellar season. They made it a regional championship four-peat, with Martin and fellow senior Lauren Tegtmeyer becoming the first players in program history to win a regional each year of their careers. But as they made it to their seventh round of 16 since hall of fame head coach Barry Bauer took over in 2014-15, they saw heartbreak before that evasive sectional plaque once again. Martin’s nine points led the team, and she also had five boards and an assist. Christa Holohan had eight points and three rebounds, steals and assists apiece while Schroeder buried a pair of first-half 3-pointers for six points. And as much as that may pain Bauer, the team and the coaching staff, Bauer also has known for a couple of months that this season was already a success. After a late decision came to co-op with Milford, a decision that was made to mixed reactions in the locker room initially, it didn’t take long for the Warrior family to fully extend to Milford. “We co-opped at the very last minute and we were just talking about how some of the girls were really reserved about that and not too excited,” Bauer said. “But it was Christmas time, I told them I didn’t care if we won another game all year, because they had all become friends.” (WICS) — A Watseka woman was arrested after a narcotics bust on Wednesday with cooperation with the Iroquois County States Attorney's office served a search warrant in the 100 block of S Brown Police conducted an undercover narcotics purchase targeting namely "pressed pills" and methamphetamine Police recovered approximately 1,200 grams of cannabis 500 "pressed pills" that tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl Police also seized approximately $200 in cash was charged with Unlawful delivery of a controlled substance Possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver Possession of a controlled substance and Possession of cannabis Kirby was taken to the Iroquois County jail and was released per the Illinois Safe-T Act The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected (WICS) — An Illinois State Police (ISP) investigation led to the arrest of 22-year-old Manuel Perez of Watseka Illinois for possession of child sexual abuse material After receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) ISP conducted an investigation into possession of child sexual abuse material and he is being held pending an arraignment hearing in Iroquois County Perez is charged with five counts of Possession of Child Pornography (Class 2 Felony) Anonymous tips of child sexual abuse material can also be reported through the NCMEC CyberTipline here. ExpandWatseka's Payton Schaumburg, left, keeps the ball out of reach of Iroquois West's Rylan Pheifer during the IHSA Class 2A Hoopeston Regional quarterfinals at Watseka Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Shaw Media/Mason Schweizer) WATSEKA – When the Watseka boys basketball team met Vermilion Valley Conference rival Iroquois West on Dec. 20, a game the Raiders won in a runaway 51-35, Warriors head coach Chad Cluver said the game was a gut check for the team after they fell to 2-10 on the season. “It kind of set us up for what the rest of the year was gonna be,” Cluver said. “When we came back from Christmas for practice it was, ‘It’s a job interview, boys. Who wants to play and who doesn’t?’ ” Comparing that matchup to the teams' second meeting at the Class 2A Hoopeston Regional quarterfinals in Watseka on Monday night, it seems the Warriors wanted it. No. 9 seed Watseka (12-18) didn’t trail for the final three quarters, defeating (10) Iroquois West (13-18) 43-30 to advance to Wednesday’s regional quarterfinal against Bismarck-Henning at 6 p.m. in Hoopeston. “It was either you’re gonna want to join us, be together all the time, play defense and do the little things to win, or if not we’re gonna find other guys that will,” Cluver said of the early-season dose of reality. “We had a lot of guys step up to it. It was still a process, a lot of ups and downs on the season, let alone in a game. “We’re getting more mentally tough and that showed tonight. I was pretty proud of how the boys executed.” Watseka's Quinn Starkey eyes up a 3-pointer during the Warriors' IHSA Class 2A Hoopeston Regional quarterfinal at home against Iroquois West Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Shaw Media/Mason Schweizer) The Warriors caught fire near the end of the first quarter, going on a 6-0 run in the final minute to take a 12-8 lead into the second. They opened the second quarter with a pair of second-chance buckets, a Payton Schaumburg 3-pointer and Andrew Shoemaker layup, to go ahead 17-8, and eventually built a 26-14 halftime lead that never got closer than eight points the rest of the game. Watseka senior Quinn Starkey, who had a game-high 15 points, said that the team not only executed Cluver’s gameplan the way he wanted them to, but they also showed their chemistry on the court with the way they patiently found the open teammate. “We run X’s and O’s really well and practice it,” Starkey said. “Also, one thing we work on is the flow of the offense. We have a lot of stuff that we can do, so just not forcing stuff either, and if a guy inside is having a hot night, we know to get it to him.” Shoemaker often was the recipient inside, finishing with 12 points. Schaumburg and James Newell had six points apiece. The Raiders got 10 points apiece from the frontcourt tandem of Beau Howe and Kobie Hendershot and four more first-quarter points from the third senior big man in their rotation, Cort Leonard. But those were the only three IW players to score until the fourth quarter against a Watseka defense that suffocated the Raiders on the perimeter for most of the night. Iroquois West's Cort Leonard, left, puts back an offensive rebound as Watseka's James Newell defends during the IHSA Class 2A Hoopeston Regional quarterfinals at Watseka Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Shaw Media/Mason Schweizer) “We’ve improved so much on both ends, but especially on the defensive end from if you were to have seen us at the beginning of the year until now,” Cluver said. “The guys executed the defensive gameplan tonight and it showed.” The Warriors, who have won four of their past five games in addition to a five-game winning streak last month, weren’t the only team that entered Monday’s contest confident in their play of late. After a 2-8 start, the earlier matchup with the Warriors was part of a spark for the Raiders, who hadn’t quite seen the results in the win column, but in the eyes of head coach Zach Monk, made great strides as the season went on. “It was a lot of development from the seniors, just maturing throughout the year,” Monk said. “Not a lot of them got a lot of time last year, but we were playing a lot better basketball the last month and a half, even if our record didn’t reflect it.” ExpandCissna Park's Addison Lucht tosses in a shot after maneuvering through Watseka-Milford's defense on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, during the Timberwolves' 61-40 victory. (Tiffany Blanchette) CISSNA PARK – No matter the sport or the two schools' success during any given year, anytime Vermilion Valley Conference rivals Cissna Park and Watseka get together, the action always seems to intensify in front of a larger, more thunderous crowd. So, it’s safe to say that when the two met in Cissna Park on Monday night as the area’s only two state-ranked girls basketball teams – the Timberwolves entered fifth in the Class 1A AP Poll and Watseka-Milford 10th in Class 2A – that the action and excitement were sky high. And save for a couple minutes of action, the game was about as back-and-forth as can be. But thanks to an 8-2 start and 13-0 run in the third quarter, the Timberwolves celebrated senior night with a 61-40 win. Cissna Park (24-4 overall, 10-0 VVC) clinched at least a tie atop the standings with the win. The Warriors slid to 24-4, 9-2. “This one always means a lot,” said Cissna Park junior guard Addison Lucht, who tallied a game-high 26 points. “It’s always a very highly-anticipated game and you know it’s gonna be a great matchup. Both teams are very well coached and well disciplined. “We’ve been playing against these same girls since scrimmages in fourth grade,” she said. “It always means a little bit more, especially for a share of conference. We want to win it outright, so we came out excited and knew it was gonna be a great atmosphere.” ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 12Cissna Park's Addison Lucht drives to the basket past Watseka-Milford defenders on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, during the Timberwolves' 61-40 victory. (Tiffany Blanchette) Lucht scored 10 of her points in the first quarter, her first action on the court since she committed to play softball at Northwestern University over the weekend to cap a 72-hour span most high schoolers will never have. “There’s very few, not even high schoolers, but just people like her,” Timberwolves head coach Anthony Videka said of Lucht. “Very few people have her motor. Her engine just never stops.” The Timberwolves' engine never stopped either Monday, as they never trailed and the only tie was 2-all. The Warriors got as close as 36-28 on Megan Martin’s basket with 3:23 left in the third. But the Timberwolves went on a 13-0 run over the next three minutes, including four second-chance points and points off turnovers apiece, to lead 49-28 on Autumn Reutter’s layup with 30 seconds left in the quarter. Lucht added eight boards and an assist to her 26 points. Lauryn Hamrick had 16 points and eight rebounds. Sophie Duis had eight points and eight rebounds. While the final score was a 21-point loss, Warriors' head coach Barry Bauer, who grew up on the other side of the rivalry as a 1983 Cissna Park graduate, saw a lot of good. He saw a Watseka-Milford team that executed in the half court the way they wanted. But that 13-0 run in the third that was fueled off of transition points and second-chance points was a microcosm for the margins in which Bauer felt the team lost. Watseka-Milford's Christa Holohan is pressured by Cissna Park's Josie Neukomm on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, during the Timberwolves' 61-40 victory over Watseka-Milford. (Tiffany Blanchette) “We gave up 61, so the first thing you’d look at is, ‘oh boy, defensively we didn’t get it done,’ but I thought our half court defense was really good,” he said. “It was those second shots that killed us. … When you do everything right, make them take the shot you want them to take but then give up the rebound, that’s tough.” Christa Holohan’s 15 points, six rebounds and three assists led the Warriors. Megan Martin and Thayren Rigsby each had eight points, with Martin adding eight rebounds. The Timberwolves can claim the VVC title outright if they win at Iroquois West on Wednesday. They’ll then begin their journey through the Class 1A playoffs as a No. 1 seed, eager for a longer postseason run than the supersectionals where it ended last year. “We’re gonna try to get through Wednesday first and hopefully wrap up a conference championship, then just keep trying to play one more game at a time for our seniors,” Videka said. ExpandBishop McNamara's Trinity Davis maneuvers through Seneca defenders during the Fightin' Irish's 51-30 victory over Seneca in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional semifinal on Tuesday HERSCHER – Through the first half of Tuesday’s IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional semifinal between Bishop McNamara and Seneca it looked like a thrilling finish was in store for a game that saw the two teams knotted at the end of the first quarter (5-5) and halftime (18-18) it was McNamara (26-7) who forced three Seneca turnovers in the first minute kickstarting a 6-0 run in the first 60 seconds that eventually became a 14-2 run propelling McNamara past Seneca (25-9) 51-30 to put the program in its first sectional championship since 2019 “I just told them we’ve gotta play our game,” McNamara head coach Khadaizha Sanders said ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 9Bishop McNamara's Trinitee Thompson rejoices with teammates as the Fightin' Irish secured a 51-30 victory over Seneca in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional semifinal Tuesday Held to just five points on 2-for-8 shooting in the first half tallied 15 second-half points to total a game-high 20 points Davis and fellow senior Leigha Brown each had a pair of steals that became assists to the other one as part of that game-changing third quarter she said she realized she had to pick it up on both ends of the floor if she wanted to guarantee her prep career would continue and I feel like I wasn’t really contributing with the scoring and that’s why it was so close,” Davis said Graysen Provance’s bucket with 1:42 left in the third put an end to the McNamara run and cut Seneca’s deficit to 10 points at 32-22 Head coach Josh Myers thought his team started the game well enough to win but couldn’t answer McNamara’s mighty push to open the third “We took a lot of their stuff away,” Myers said “Their players are tall and they can get where they need to be but I thought we did a really good job of sinking in they get some loose ball runouts and easy baskets Davis added four steals and a pair of assists and rebounds apiece to her game-high 20 points for one-seed McNamara Sophomore forward Trinitee Thompson notched a double-double Fellow sophomore post Jaide Burse had seven points and eight boards while Brown did a bit of everything with six points and rebounds apiece and four assists and steals apiece Alyssa Zellers added seven points and four rebounds Tessa Krull had seven points and 10 rebounds ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 10Watseka-Milford's Thayren Rigsby (31) and Noelle Schroeder (20) leap in celebration as the Warriors secured a 50-24 victory over Reed-Custer in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher sectional semifinal on Tuesday It’s safe to say that message was received loud and clear. Powered by a 14-0 start, Watseka-Milford never let the Comets back within single digits, giving the second-seeded Warriors a 50-24 win over the No. 7 Comets. Watseka-Milford improved to 28-4 and advanced to Thursday’s championship with McNamara at 6 p.m. in Herscher. Reed-Custer’s season ended at 15-16. “I think we all understood the assignment,” Martin said. “We were ready for the win. Whatever it takes basically." Martin nearly outscored the Comets on her own, putting up a game-high 21 points to go with six rebounds and two assists. Bauer credited the team’s backcourt talent for all being able to make the perfect pass into the post to allow Martin’s big night. Watseka's Megan Martin shoots under pressure from Reed-Custer's Harlie Liebermann during the Warriors' 50-24 victory over Reed-Custer in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher sectional semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 25. (Tiffany Blanchette) “The post pass tonight was so good that I think it created the move for her, because they were doubling [Martin], and she was still getting shots up,” Bauer said. It was a great start by Megan, but also our ball movement and post entry passes were good. The Warriors, also got 10 points and eight rebounds from Kami Muehling and eight points from Noelle Schroeder to lead the backcourt. They’re back in the Class 2A field of 16 for the fourth year in a row and seventh time since Bauer took over in 2014. But the program is still looking for its first sectional title. “It took a lot of hard work to get back here, and we’re happy to get back here,” Bauer said. But we really want to win one more." The Comets were led by Alyssa Wollenzein’s nine points, three rebounds and two assists. Morgan Toler and Leah Grace each added seven points. Although Tuesday wasn’t the result they were hoping for, there’s no denying it’s been a banner year for Reed-Custer. In head coach Shelby Zwolinski’s fifth season they not only won their first regional game, but won three regional games to give the program its first regional plaque since 2006. Three-year players Grace and Cameron Wallace were the team’s only seniors, Zwolinksi is proud of the progress the program has made with those two seniors leading the charge. “Who would have thought a seven seed would be playing in a sectional game? Not many,” Zwolinski said. “We hadn’t won a regional game in the first four years I’d been here, and now we’ve won three and broke a 19-year drought without a regional title. We did it, so we have to be proud of that.”