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Freshmen shine as Hersey defeats Carmel

When Carmel Catholic's Jordan Wood talked to University of Michigan recruiting coordinator Toyelle Wilson early in the week and told her about the potential of Wood and Hersey's Katy Eidle playing against each other later in the week, it was good news and bad news.

Good news for both freshmen and, particularly, Eidle considering she scored 32 points against Bartlett when Wilson saw her play in early December.

Bad news for Carmel considering playing in front of Michigan's assistant coach seems to bring out the best in Eidle.

Hersey's 5-foot-11 freshman guard showed that again on Thursday night. She scored a game-high 28 points (4 off her season high) to lead the top-seeded Huskies to a 50-31 win over No. 8 Carmel in the Class 4A Carmel regional final.

Eidle is averaging 30 points in the two games Wilson has seen her play in person.

"Usually I don't think about anything that's over there [in the stands]," Eidle said of being unfazed by the atmosphere of a regional final. "I just play the game and listen to my team and my coaches. I just block everything out."

Michigan, along with Illinois and Illinois State, has offered Eidle a scholarship.

"She's definitely really competitive," said Wood, who has offers from Illinois and Iowa. "She's a good person to play against, probably the best I've played against this whole season.

"She definitely had me on skates."

Wood scored 17 points to lead Carmel (19-12).

With its 15th win in its last 16 games, top-seeded Hersey (26-7) advanced to the Palatine sectional semifinals and will play at 6 p.m. Monday against the winner of Friday's Lake Forest regional final between No. 4 Stevenson (25-7) and No. 5 Lake Forest (24-8). The regional title was the Huskies' sixth in seven years.

Eidle scored 5 points, including one of her three 3-pointers, in helping Hersey build an 18-2 lead less than 30 seconds into the second quarter. She played fearlessly, despite being guarded by the 6-foot-4 Wood.

"I was just feeling it," Eidle said. "After my first shot, I was just going to keep shooting. I knew (Wood) being 6-4 she was going to jump on everything. I just had to drive and take it strong."

Carmel won regional championships in Class 3A in each of the last three seasons. When the Corsairs got within 28-23 midway through the third quarter, it looked like they might have rediscovered their postseason magic.

"We came into this game with confidence," Carmel senior guard Kaytlyn Matz said after sinking a 3-pointer and grabbing 7 rebounds. "We needed more energy in the beginning, but we never thought for a second that we wouldn't be able to [win] because in the past we've been able to do some pretty cool things."

Hersey answered with a 9-0 run to close the third. Eidle's 3 from the left corner beat the buzzer and had the Huskies up 37-23.

"When we got that close, I feel like everyone had hope that we were back in it," said Carmel senior guard Katie Lach, a starter on the Corsairs' regional-championship teams the last three years. "So did Coach (Ben Berg). He fired us all up. I think everyone hustled and did their best, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't there, and being in 4A this year was so much more difficult."

Mary Kate Fahey added 9 points for Hersey, going 4 of 4 from the line down the stretch. Fahey also had 3 steals and took a charge.

Hersey coach Mary Fendley was thrilled for seniors Jessie Carlquist, Jordan Carlquist and Claire Stollfuss.

"This win was for our seniors," Fendley said. "We have three unbelievable seniors. All three of them played on the freshman level as freshmen, they played on JV as sophomores, they played varsity B last year, and now they're varsity players. I think that's a great testament to them and staying with it. It's hard to be a varsity athlete."

  Hersey's Mary Kate Fahey and teammate Katy Eidle celebrate their victory over Carmel in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Mary Kate Fahey and teammates celebrate their victory over Carmel in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Natalia Kubsik delivers late in the game as Carmel's defense applies pressure in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Katy Eidle drives against Carmel's Mia Gillis in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Mary Kate Fahey is fouled by Carmel's defense in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Jordan Carlquist eyes the basket in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Katy Eidle and Carmel's Jordan Wood battle it out in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Mary Kate Fahey has the ball stripped away from her by Carmel's Claire Stollfuss in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Mary Kate Fahey eyes the basket despite pressure from Carmel's Katie Lach in the Class 4A basketball regional final game at Carmel in Mundelein. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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