Simmons' big finish helps Carmel to victory
The Carmel girls basketball team's pressure defense and clutch offense from senior guard Aubrey Simmons proved to be a powerful combination Thursday against Palatine in the Blue Devil Holiday Tournament.
Simmons scored the final 5 points of the game in Carmel's 25-22 comeback victory in the first tournament game for each team.
"She won the game for us at the end," Carmel coach John Ryan said.
Carmel cuts its deficit to 22-20 on a basket by senior guard Caitlin Hendricks with 2:25 left. Carmel trapped the rest of the game and forced Palatine into turnovers and tough shots.
"Our trademark is our pressure defense," Ryan said. "We were stopping them, but the problem was we weren't scoring. We wanted to create some easy opportunities off our pressure."
A Simmons layup tied the score at 22-22 with about one minute left. Carmel junior Lauren Lehocky came up with a steal and quickly passed it to Simmons. Simmons was fouled in the act of shooting and she made the free throw for a 3-point play.
The teams traded turnovers and Carmel had to withstand a pair of 3-point attempts by Palatine before the victory was secured. Palatine was 0-for-16 from behind the arc.
"We knew we needed stops late in the fourth quarter," Simmons said. "They started to panic a little."
After scoring 8 consecutive points to take a 12-6 lead after the opening quarter, the Pirates managed 10 points combined in the final three quarters.
"We have to start believing in ourselves or the results aren't going to change," Palatine coach Ron Theberge said. "The effort was there; we played hard enough to win. We have to keep plugging away."
Junior Kate MacFabe certainly did her part. She scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. She also blocked 3 shots.
"I was very impressed with her rebounding, and she moves well for a big girl," Ryan said.
Carmel meets Warren at noon Saturday, while Palatine will try for its first tournament victory at 3 p.m. against Niles North.
"We've been in a rut," MacFabe said. "It's pretty frustrating, but I'm optimistic for the rest of the tournament."