Hot Shot Tichy Jets Pioneers Into Final

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn—The top ranked and undefeated DeLaSalle Islanders hadn’t really been tested the entire season. They defeated their opponents by an average of 31 points per contest and hadn’t had a team closer than six points the entire year. That is of course until they ran into a white hot sophomore from Hill-Murray named Tessa Cichy.

Cichy scored 34 points in the Pioneers 61-48 victory over the top seeded Islanders on Thursday afternoon. It was the second top two seed to fall prior to the finals. The other was Maple Grove in class AAAA yesterday.

“We talked about them being extremely dangerous on offense,” said head coach Erin Herman. “They have a whole lot of weapons and we needed to take away the three point shot.”

After shooting 9-24 from deep in their quarterfinal win yesterday, the Pioneers held DeLaSalle to just 3 for 9. The Pioneers defense is the main reason they will be playing in the championship game Saturday. Carissa Wolyniec and Tyseanna Johnson scored 28 and 25 points respectively yesterday. Against the stingy Hill-Murray defense the duo was held to 14 total.

Then we get to Cichy’s performance. The super sophomore, still suffering with the flu was magnificent. She shot 10 for 23 from the field and hit from seemingly everywhere on the floor.

“I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to go,” said Cichy. “I wasn’t going to let my teammates down.”

Cichy fell awkwardly to the floor late in the first half and looked to twist her knee. It didn’t phase her as she would go on to score 17 points in both halves propelling her team to the class AAA championship game Saturday afternoon against Benilde St. Margaret’s.