Shapiro, Palatine edge Carmel at Warren

Ashley Shapiro isn't afraid to take the ball to the hoop, which she demonstrated on numerous occasions Monday afternoon for Palatine.

Shapiro scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second and third quarters, helping Palatine win its second straight tournament game with a 40-29 victory over Carmel Catholic in pool play at the Blue Devil Classic in Gurnee.

Shapiro got aggressive in the second quarter, bringing the Pirates (5-8, 2-0 tournament) back from a 13-8 deficit. She went 4-for-4 from the free throw as part of an 11-3 run which put Palatine up 19-16 at the break.

"I was just trying to compose myself," Shapiro said. "I was able to take the ball to the basket. My coach wants me to go to the basket, because he knows that one of my specialties is going up pretty strong. We needed to get into a faster pace and to go toward the basket more. The team was able to pick up from that and take faster shots."

Shapiro continued leading the pace in the third quarter, scoring 7 more points within a 15-5 Palatine spurt that increased the lead to 34-21 over the Corsairs (4-8, 0-2).

"Once we settled in, we got the tempo going," Palatine coach Mark Johnson said. "It's work in progress, and now we've won two games in this tournament."

The Pirates' defense caused a lot of problems for the Corsairs in those middle quarters.

"I think our defensive pressure was a big difference," Johnson said. "I think we started to defend their high-low. We were able to contain a couple of their key players. We did do a lot defensively, but they missed a lot of shots, too. We just had good defense and that was nice to see."

Monica Mansini added 8 points and 8 rebounds off the bench for Palatine.

Emma Rappa and Sam Melillo led the Corsairs with 13 points apiece off the bench.

Carmel didn't shoot well from the field (25 percent) but was pleased to hold Palatine to 40 points.

"We struggled offensively," Carmel Catholic coach Kelly Perz said. "I still thought we did a good job defensively to hold them to 40, that's our goal every game. Just offensively, we couldn't get things going. I thought the lid was on the basket a bit and we just couldn't finish. We just have to finish better."

Warren 60, Deerfield 49: Warren had a strong fourth quarter which included a 13-2 run to get past Deerfield 60-49 on Monday afternoon.

The Blue Devils (3-8) have won two straight games, and the most recent of them was career win No. 298 for Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz.

Rebekah Foley and Jordyn Hughes led Warren with 12 points apiece.

"It was a good team effort, and right now it's one game at a time," Stanczykiewicz said. "I don't have a big board in my house with notches there, counting. It's good to know that I've coached a lot of good players and have been fortunate enough to be in a good program. We just have good coaches and players that were coachable against some good schedules every year. All it means now is that we won another ballgame."

Deerfield was led by Elena Brichacek with 23 points (including seven 3s) and Margot Sylvan added 14 points.

Grayslake Central 52, Phillips 48: The Rams (4-9) won their second straight game in the tournament.

Lauren Spaulding led the way with 19 points and 6 rebounds and Lindsay Brust added 10 points and 7 boards.

"I thought we played a pretty good solid effort," Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. "Lindsey Brust really carried us off the bench. It was a good team victory and it was nice to see the defense."

Wheeling won the other contest 49-23 over Lake Forest.