Against all odds, Carmel closes out St. Viator
Carmel Catholic's opponent scored the first 12 points, and one of its own players missed the last 11 minutes of the game under concussion protocol.
The odds were certainly stacked against the Corsairs posting a win in Thursday night's Class 3A Woodstock North girls basketball sectional final against St. Viator.
Carmel defied those odds.
Playing without junior forward Brigit Barr for most of the second half, Carmel switched to a zone and held St. Viator to 11 points over the last three quarters.
The Corsairs grinded out a 29-23 triumph to advance to the Burlington Central supersectional.
The Corsairs (17-15) will play Glenbard South at 7 p.m. Monday. The Raiders advanced by defeating Sycamore 41-21 in the title game of the Genoa Kingston sectional.
The Lions end the 2017-2018 campaign at 21-10.
"We felt St. Viator was getting too many open looks, and they were winning 1-on-1 battles," said Carmel coach Ben Berg. "We had to go to a 2-1-2 zone and slow down the tempo of the game. Our young team didn't panic after they got off to an early lead.
"We learned a lot of lessons tonight. Kids stepped up with Brigit out. It was a great team win."
Olivia Solimene buried a pair of 3-pointers and Myia Clark collected a pair of free throws along with 2 driving layups, and the Lions held a 12-0 lead with 3:48 left in the first quarter.
Carmel didn't score until the 2:36 mark of the opening quarter on a driving layup by Ranya Jamison to make it 12-2.
During the final three quarters, the Corsairs totally shut down the Lions' offensive attack.
During the final 24 minutes, St. Viator connected on 5 of 25 shots and misfired on all 10 shots from 3-point range.
"We got off to a great start but we didn't handle their zone very well," said St. Viator coach Jason Raymond. "We didn't make open shots, and our shot selection wasn't very good."
Without Barr, Carmel still trailed 21-14 after three quarters. But the Corsairs blitzed the Lions with a 10-0 run to start the quarter.
Caitlin Teehan scored 5 points (including a trey), Jamison connected on a driving layup and Shai Horton nailed a 10-footer in the lane as the Corsairs turned a 7-point deficit into a 24-21 lead with 3:22 left. The Lions' only points of the quarter came on a putback by Clark with 2:46 left to make it 24-23.
Carmel tallied the final 5 points to pull out the win.
Jamison paced the Corsairs with 11 points.
"When they got the early lead coach Berg told us to stay calm, there is a lot of game left," said Jamison. "When Brigit went down we knew everybody had to step up. We stayed focused and got the W (win)."
Clark led the Lions with 11 and Solimene scored 10 before fouling out with 21.5 seconds left.