Illig's 38-point explosion lifts Troy over St. Dominic

TROY, Mo. — Maggie Illig doesn't talk much.

The Troy sophomore guard lets her actions on the basketball court do the talking for her.

Illig poured in a whopping 38 points on Tuesday to help the Trojans to a 69-61 win over St. Dominic in a contest at Buchanan High.

The quiet Illig was modest about her career-best performance. Her previous high was 26 points in a win over St. Charles West just 12 days ago.

“It feels pretty good, I guess,” Illig said.

Troy (6-1) won its fourth successive contest.

Illig tallied 15 points in the tell-tale third quarter including a trio of game-changing 3-pointers.

Thanks to that outburst, the hosts turned a 34-25 halftime deficit into a 52-51 lead entering the final period.

Troy coach Damond Lacy said that Illig's scoring prowess, and his team's defensive effort against St. Dominic senior post player Jessie Blaine, were the keys to the victory. Blaine led the Crusaders with 19 points, but had just six points in the second half.

“We knew it would be a battle and that third quarter, it was a big quarter for us,” Lacy said. “Shots started falling and we made some plays defensively. For the last week, with only one game, we got the chance to start talking about this. We decided we were going to double her and we had to do a good job on closing out the shooters.”

The Troy defense put the clamps down across the board holding the Crusaders to just nine field goals in the second half.

“We stopped (Blaine) and they didn’t make any shots in the second half,” Illig said. “I thought we did a good job on defense.”

Senior guard Makenna DeClue added 15 points to the winning attack.

Lacy said Illig’s work rubbed off on her teammates.

“We didn’t shoot it very well in the first half,” Lacy said. “When you start to shoot it well, it’s kind of contagious.”

Junior guard Delaney Smith added 14 points for St. Dominic (4-3, No. 9 small schools).

The contest featured eight lead changes and three ties.

“That game had a lot of swings, a lot of momentum and lead changes, big lead changes, which was something new for us,” Blaine said. “We thought we had a good game plan and it worked well when it worked but (Illig) had a heck of a game. She could hit the threes, she was driving well and everything went in. They’re a good team, a hard team to defend and they have a lot of weapons. They make you play hard all game.”

The Trojans have won 15 of the 29 meetings between the teams since 1999.