WASHINGTON — One school stood head and shoulders above the others this winter in IESA Class 8-3A basketball: Washington Middle School.

The Panthers won the Illinois Elementary School Association girls state championship in December and followed that up with the IESA boys state title last month.

It was a rare accomplishment. There have only been five girls and boys sweeps in a school year since the IESA went to a four-class setup for its basketball state series in 2006. This is the first in Class 3A.

Digging deeper into those stats, only 10 of 240 IESA basketball state champions since 2006 — or 4% — have been part of a girl and boys sweep.

This was Reggie Durchholz's 13th year as the WMS eighth-grade girls basketball coach. It was the first time his team made it to the state championship game. He's the eighth-grade social studies teacher at WMS.

This was the first season that Adam Staggs was the coach of the WMS eighth-grade boys basketball team. He's the boys grades 6-8 physical education teacher at the school.

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The coaches came up with a few reasons why they thought the Panthers swept the IESA's top prizes in Class 8-3A basketball.

"This is an athletic class, and the girls and boys teams really supported each other," Durchholz said.

"This is a talented class," Staggs said. "Plus, we have really good kids at our school. There's a positive vibe in the halls. The kids enjoy going here."

As for his team, "these guys have played together for a long time and are good friends," Staggs said. "They were in sync this season. Everything was about the team. Nobody complained about not getting enough playing time."

While this was the first IESA state championship for a WMS girls basketball team, the school previously won two IESA state titles in boys basketball. The Panthers won the Class 8-3A state championship in 2015 and the Class 7-3A state championship in 2017.

Here's a look at each championship run and how a never-give-up attitude played a major role in each:

How the WMS girls won

The WMS girls team beat previously undefeated Pleasant Plains 33-31 in the state title game Dec. 16 at Germantown Hills Middle School after trailing until midway through the fourth quarter.

The Panthers fell behind 7-0 early and were down by 11 points in the third quarter. A triple by WMS' Laney Dravis with about five minutes left tied the game at 22-22. After two lead changes, Adriene Donald put the Panthers ahead for good 27-26 on a floater.

WMS led 33-27 with less than a minute to go before Pleasant Plains scored the game's final four points, including a meaningless basket at the buzzer.

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"We never gave up. We knew we could come back. Everyone stepped up," Durchholz said. "I think I've watched the video of the second half of that game about 20 times. I even took 20 minutes out of my classes the next day to show my students the video of the fourth quarter. Half of my team was in those classes."

Donald led the Panthers (20-6) past Pleasant Plains with 10 points. Mazzy O'Brien scored eight points and Dani Guedet had seven points for WMS.

Pleasant Plains finished 30-1.

WMS set a Class 8-3A girls state record by making 16 triples during the three-game state finals. Dravis and Donald tied a Class 8-3A state record with six 3-pointers each.

Earlier in the post-season, the Panthers fell behind Germantown Hills by double-digits in a regional championship game and came from behind to win 28-25.

"When we won that game, we got a sense that we could do something big this season," Durchholz said.

The team lost five of its final seven regular-season games against a tough schedule, but after a 39-36 loss to Dunlap Valley at the beginning of the stretch, "we thought if we could hang with them, we could hang with anyone," Durchholz said.

Also on the WMS girls team were Kendall Hiller, Devon Mlekush, Mackenzie Barton, Jenna Spiezio, Corrine Berg, Lanee Martin, Jadyn Trees and Josie O'Brien.

Mazzy O'Brien and Donald led the season scoring, averaging in double figures at 12.7 and 10.0 points-per-game. Donald made 38 triples, Mazzy O'Brien had 19 and Dravis had 18.

How the WMS boys won

The WMS boys team beat Teutopolis 42-35 on Feb. 17 at Tolono Unity High School in the state championship game after falling behind 7-0 in the game's early moments.

A.J. Jones scored 12 points and Eli Roedell and James Johnson each had 11 points for the Panthers (27-3). Teotopolis finished 24-5.

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Like the WMS girls team, the WMS boys team had a scare earlier in the postseason. It needed a late comeback to beat Germantown Hills 38-34 in a regional championship game. Trailing by nine points with about four minutes left, the Panthers ditched their half-court man-to-man defense and went to a full-court press.

"It was hectic ball the rest of the way. We trapped when we could. We got a lot of turnovers," Staggs said. "Germantown Hills played very well. We beat them by 15 points (44-29) a month earlier."

Also on the WMS boys team were Blake Maxwell, Logan Skaggs, Haydon Hawksworth, Noah Pflederer, Charlie Schermerhorn, Dean Davidson, Steven Searle, JoJo Smith, Cooper Hartman, Sam Peters and Parker Westerfield.

How sweep it is

Here are the five girls and boys state title sweeps in IESA basketball since 2006, across all classes:

2021-22: Washington Middle School in Class 8-3A

2019-20: Lincoln West Lincoln-Broadwell in Class 7-1A

2011-12: Normal Kingsley in Class 8-4A

2010-11: Springfield Christ the King in Class 8-2A

2010-11: Normal Kingsley in Class 7-4A

Steve Stein can be reached at (248) 224-2616 or stevestein21@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpartanSteve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Washington Middle School basketball pulls off IESA state title sweep