Wrap: Carmel loses in OT

Carmel senior point guard David Venegoni was dribbling the ball up the court in the final seconds of regulation Friday. The Corsairs trailed at the time 42-39 against visiting St. Patrick.

What was going through Carmel coach Jon Baffico's mind?

"I was thinking what our fans were: 'Come on David, put it in,' " Baffico said.

Which, improbably, Venegoni did. Venegoni banked in a 3-pointer before the buzzer from about 30 feet to force overtime.

In the extra session, it was St. Patrick's turn to come through in the waning seconds. Junior guard Tim Traversa's 15-foot runner beat the horn to give the Shamrocks a 51-49 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.

"I try those shots all the time messing around in practice," Traversa said. "My shot wasn't falling (tonight), but I went up with confidence."

A turnover by Carmel gave the Shamrocks the final possession. Carmel played tough in overtime, even though forward Jack Baucus fouled out in regulation and Venegoni picked up his fifth foul a little more than a minute into overtime.

"We didn't have a drop off; we got contributions from a number of guys," Baffico said. "We've gone through a stretch where we've played for three quarters and struggled. I was happy with how hard we battled for five quarters. That was very encouraging. I (like) where we're headed as a team. (Tonight), St. Patrick made one more play."

Already this season, the Shamrocks (9-4, 4-0) have a victory to their credit against perennial power St. Joseph. Carmel dropped to 3-14, 0-5.

"I enjoyed watching Carmel compete," St. Patrick coach Mike Bailey said. "Jon does a good job with the talent he has. I think we helped them get back into it with our shot selection."

On a night where St. Patrick struggled with its shooting, senior David Campbell was in fine form. Campbell made a trio of 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points.

On balance, the Corsairs' zone defense induced the Shamrocks to take a lot of 3-pointers.

"I thought we were effective at slowing them down," Baffico said.

Venegoni hit three 3-pointers and had a team-high 16 points. His play down the stretch helped the Corsairs overcome what earlier in the half was a 9-point deficit. Senior Jordan Sivertsen scored 9 points. Tim Sachs and Jonathan Huisel each had 6 points.

Neither team fared well from the free-throw line. St. Patrick was 13 of 25 while Carmel made 12 of its 20 attempts. Several times, though, St. Patrick was able to come up with the offensive rebound off a missed free throw.

"We haven't been playing up to our expectations," Sachs said. "This will help us as a team."

Mundelein 82, Boulder Creek 45: The Mustangs made it 2-for-2 in Arizona, winning for the second night in a row.

Navjot Singh and Ben Brust scored 23 and 20 points, respectively, for Mundelein (13-4).

Andy Rochon added 13 and Eric Pagsanjan chipped in 10. Pagsanjan and Brust each hit a pair of 3-pointers.

Girls basketball

Woodstock 55, Grayslake Central 54: The Rams appeared to be en route to a victory Friday night, but visiting Woodstock pulled out a 55-54 Fox Valley Conference crossover win as Grayslake Central had a couple of shots bounce off the rim in the final seconds.

"It's little things, and it's different things all the time," Grayslake Central coach Roger Lass said. "Some turnover here and a missed layup there.

"I don't know how many easy shots we missed tonight. It's not the last-second shots at the end, it's the missed layups earlier. It's just mental, silly mistakes."

The Rams (4-11) have been in this situation before -- in games against Deerfield and Regina, for example -- where they can't put away the opponent.

"We just didn't finish right," said Lass. "It's frustrating. We didn't put things away and we got complacent."

Grayslake Central led 17-8 after the first quarter thanks to solid defense.

"I liked the way we came out in the first half and pressured the ball," Lass said. "Our 1-3-1 (defense) worked very well. That's what we're all about -- good defense and getting good breaks."

The Rams' Alexandria Scarbro (7 points coming off the bench) made a short jumper with 7:07 left in the second quarter for a comfortable 19-8 lead.

Woodstock (12-4) rallied back with a 19-5 spurt as Mollie Whiting (12 points coming off the bench) hit a 15-foot jumper to give her team a 27-24 advantage with 48 seconds left. The Blue Streaks led 29-28 at halftime.

Rams senior Rachel Culp (game-high 14 points, 5 steals) started an 8-1 run in the second half and Grayslake Central led 36-30 with 4:08 remaining and had a 42-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

"Definitely as a leader, it's important to get the team going," Culp said. "We need to come together more as a team and that's how we can win games."

Grayslake Central led 52-48 before Woodstock outscored the Rams 7-2 over the final 96 seconds.

Blue Streaks freshman Chrissy Velasquez (11 points) made 4 straight free throws and Jackie Weith (12 points) hit a 15-foot jumper and made 1 of 2 from the line.

"Once we got one of our starters back in there, things started to click for us," said Woodstock coach Marty Hammond of Velasquez, who was bothered by soreness in her wrist and knee. "She made the 4 free throws for us.

"Give credit to Grayslake Central -- they wanted to play and gave us a good game. Sometimes we don't come out with the intensity level we need to play."

The Rams' Megan LeBaron chipped in with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Haley Glynn dropped in points 12 off the bench to go with 6 rebounds and 4 steals.

-- Rusty Silber

Grayslake North 43, McHenry 38: Natalie Barczyk scored 14, including 7 in the fourth quarter, as the Knights won the Fox Valley Conference crossover.

Grayslake North (7-8) also received 8 points and 7 rebounds apiece from Elizabeth Phillips and Lauren Erickson. Phillips had 4 assists, as well.