Carmel 50, Providence Catholic 45

The way Danielle Prigge figured it, she was in jeopardy of watching the final quarter of her last home basketball game from the bench.

So, the Carmel Catholic forward, who rarely shoots, heeded the words of her coach John Ryan. She shot -- and swished a must-make 3-pointer from the left wing.

It was just her third 3 all season.

"The time before that he told me that I need to be ready to shoot," Prigge said. "I was like, I need to be ready to shoot. Otherwise, I'm not going to play."

Prigge played in the fourth quarter all right, and played big -- as did fellow seniors Caitlin Hendricks, Aubrey Simmons and Erin Glogovsky on Senior Night.

Prigge's surprise 3 came early in the fourth quarter and helped propel Carmel to a 50-45, come-from-behind win over Providence Catholic in an East Suburban Catholic Conference matchup on Wednesday.

"It was Senior Night and seniors won the game," Ryan said.

It was the third win in four games for Carmel (13-11, 4-4), which appears to be peaking at the right time. The Corsairs' last two losses have been a pair of three-point decisions.

Carmel trailed Providence 37-28 after three quarters, but the typically low-scoring Corsairs outscored the Celtics 22-8 in the fourth. They hit 12 of 16 free throws (20 of 28 on the night).

"If we play defense like we did and make our free throws, we're going to win a lot of games," Ryan said. "Because if we can get a lead on a team in the fourth quarter, we're not shooting unless it's a wide-open shot or a layup. We're going to make them foul us."

That's exactly what the Corsairs did against Providence (14-9, 4-5).

Hendricks went 5 of 6 from the line in the fourth, while Simmons and junior Tiffany Hendrickson each sank 3 of 4 free throws in the quarter. Prigge split a pair.

Said Ryan: "We got a saying: Free throws win games. Successful teams make their free throws."

Meanwhile, besides Prigge, Hendrickson (team-high 14 points) also buried a fourth-quarter 3, which commenced a 12-0 run by Carmel to start the period. Hendricks (13 points) and Glogovsky also hit jumpers. Hendricks' free throw with 5:43 left snapped a 37-37 tie and the Corsairs never trailed after that.

"The seniors and Tiffany Hendrickson were talking when we were getting together on the court," said Simmons, who had 8 points. "We said, 'This is our last home game. This is where it all ends'. So we decided to put it all on the court."

Providence had jumped out to a 16-9 lead after one quarter, sinking four 3s against Carmel's 1-3-1 zone. The Celtics led 23-19 at halftime and extended their advantage to 30-19 midway through the third on a 3 by Michelle Karr (team-high 15 points).

Carmel switched to a man-to-man defense in the fourth, pressed and took command.

"Obviously we knew that they could shoot from the outside because they were hitting everything early," Prigge said. "(In the fourth) we were taking away the perimeter and everyone was helping on defense. That took away their drives.

"We were just aggressive," she added. "And they got tired."

Vernon Hills 54, Lakes 31: The host Cougars celebrated Senior Night, hitting double-digit wins in the process.

Seniors Amy Burton and Haley Bosco each scored 8 points, as did freshman Jessica Schwartz for Vernon Hills (10-15, 5-5 North Suburban Prairie). Fellow seniors Taryn Abbassian, Lauren Bryant, Kelly Nagle, Erin O'Donnell and Brianna Skeens also contributed to the win.

Lakes (0-26, 0-11) was led in scoring by Keshia Cunningham with 13 points.