Before the 2018-2019 Lady Iron basketball team even took the court, they defined their team goals for the season; tonight, the team will be able to check off one of those boxes.

Intercity champions.

“I always like to set our goals high,” Coach Marcus Mann said after Saturday’s game, “and that was a tough one for us to get.”

But it is a crown the Lady Iron might just have to share after falling to rival Normal West 56-40 Saturday night at U-High and ending the tournament 3-1.

“We’re fortunate enough to lose a game but still earn a share of the title,” Mann said. “We’re definitely excited to be able to put that notch on the belt and be able to move forward.”

While Community has their bye in the Intercity tournament tonight, across town Normal West (2-1) and  Central Catholic (2-1) will both be playing for a piece of the title.

The Intercity scheduling might have been the Achille’s heel of the otherwise strong Iron team. The Iron played their final three games over the course of four games and “won every quarter except the third, but we lost that third quarter [vs. West] 25 to five. That 20-point difference was the difference in the game,” Mann said.

“There’s a lot of emotions involved in that Intercity tournament,” Mann said, “by the time you get to that fourth game without a bye, it kind of wears on you. Normal West is the type of team that has high energy and they’re going to keep attack you no matter what the score is, no matter what the situation is. That was hard for our girls.”

That 20-point difference could be the difference between Community earning its 10th outright Intercity championship or its fourth share of the title.

In two meaningful contests, West will face Bloomington at 7:30 after Central Catholic matches up against U-High at 6 in the final night of Intercity play.

While Intercity concludes the Iron will be in fact “mov[ing] forward” – facing the Morton Potters at home.

While technically the team’s off night in the Intercity tournament, the team is looking at the season on a larger scale: “It’s the hard work and effort that truly makes a good team great. And allows those great teams win championships.”

Tonight, the team will be working hard instead of taking the night off. “It was an opportunity for us to play another one of the best teams in the state,” Mann said on matching up against a Potter’s team that has won the 3A State title three of the past 4 years.

“We’re hoping that the storms that we’ve been through in the Intercity tournament,” Mann said, “give us a head start into the game” which will be Morton’s first competition of the season.