St. Viator ends Carmel's fun run
St. Viator coach Jason Raymond saw it happen a year ago. Carmel Catholic's girls basketball team entered the state tournament with a losing record and then put together an unlikely postseason run that included upsetting his team for a sectional championship.
So when the Corsairs found their February magic again this season, Raymond wasn't surprised. After all, St. Viator and Carmel play in the rugged East Suburban Catholic Conference.
"Our conference prepares us like no other," Raymond said. "We play some unbelievable teams, so (Carmel) is battle-tested. They're ready for the postseason, just like we are."
St. Viator wasn't about to take Carmel lightly on Thursday night, and the Lions didn't. Freshman guard Joy Bergstrom scored a game-high 18 points, sophomore Emma Morrisey added 16 coming off the bench, and top-seeded St. Viator beat host Carmel 52-32 to win the Class 3A sectional final in Mundelein.
St. Viator (25-8) advances to the Elgin Community College supersectional and plays Rochelle sectional champion Glenbard South at 7 p.m. Monday.
"At any one time they got five people on the floor that can dribble, pass and shoot," Carmel coach Ben Berg said of the Lions, who beat his Corsairs 58-42 in ESCC action in December. "They're a tough cover. They're 9-10 deep, and Jason does a nice job with them."
No. 5 Carmel, which finished 16-18, was 8-14 at one point this season. The Corsairs lost point guard Ranya Jamison (transferred to Zion-Benton) and post Kaytlyn Matz (ACL) before the season the started, and late in the season starting guard Shai Horton (knee injury) went down.
"I'm proud of them because there were a lot of things that happened this year where they could have folded up the tents and said we're not going to do any more," Berg said of his players. "They didn't do that. That says a lot about this senior group. We had girls diving on the floor with three minutes left in the game down 18."
Carmel fed 6-foot-2 freshman Grace Sullivan early and led 6-3 midway through the opening quarter. But Bergstrom's baseline bucket started a 10-0 run, and the Lions never lost control of the game. Morrisey drained a 3 in helping St. Viator take a 13-6 lead into the second quarter.
"I was a little nervous in the beginning," Morrisey, who was playing in her first sectional final, said after sinking 4 shots (two 3s) and shooting 6 of 7 from the line. "I'm still nervous now. I was shaking before the game. We just knew we had to go out there and win. We knew we could. Our coach kept telling us to have confidence and play your heart out."
That's what Morrisey did.
"She's our fire off the bench," Raymond said. "We got a lot of firepower off the bench. She and Natalie Krause always come out and provide points. (Morrisey) is a playmaker. She's like a starter as a sixth man for us, and she's great at attacking the basket and giving us energy."
Carmel couldn't keep up, especially since St. Viator kept knocking down its free throws, going 20 of 23 for the game. Samantha DeJulio was 6 of 6.
"We got the pace that we wanted for the game," Raymond said. "Our pressure defense was really good, and offensively we attacked the basket. That was a big part of our game plan. We didn't want to rely on just our three-point shooting. We wanted to make sure we had a good balance, and the girls just did a great job of getting to the paint."
Carmel's Brigit Barr (5 points), fellow senior Caitlin Teehan (6 points) and junior Katie Lach (6 points) were a part of three regional and one sectional championship teams.
Sullivan finished with 9 points and 10 rebounds, before fouling out with 5:55 left in the fourth.
"It's been a really fun ride," Barr said. "I'm happy with all of my teammates and my coaches, and we just had a lot of fun this year. We didn't do as well as we wanted in the regular season, but we pulled it off in the postseason. I'm happy we made it this far with all the adversity and injuries we had, but I'm really proud of my teammates."