'Hard work paid off': Dee-Mack girls basketball wins first state title

NORMAL — Dalia Dejesus stood at the free-throw line and smiled. The Deer Creek-Mackinaw senior stepped back and for a moment, listened to the cheers echoing through CEFCU Arena. Dejesus and her teammates had done it, beating Mt. Pulaski, 49-34 to win the Class 1A state championship on Saturday. “I was, honestly, just trying to take it all in,” Dejesus said of final time at the prep charity stripe. “… I was trying to just soak up our entire community being here. … Taking it in for what it was.” She made those final two free throws, then was subbed out where she shared an embrace with coach Joni Nightingale before the...