Carmel nips Prairie Ridge

Carmel Catholic sophomore basketball player Kathleen Felicelli, who's playing her third varsity sport, is another club kid.

"I'm in Ambassadors Club and Spanish Club," Felicelli said.

The girl can do it all.

Take Felicelli's game-winning play in the Corsairs' 40-38 win over Prairie Ridge on second-day action of the Mundelein Thanksgiving tournament Tuesday.

"How about that play by Kathleen?" Corsairs coach Kelly Perz raved.

Felicelli had missed a short shot that would have given the Corsairs the lead down the stretch. Prairie Ridge got the rebound, but Felicelli stole the outlet pass under the basket and scored a layup with 14 seconds to go.

"I was just pumped because I missed that first jump shot," said Felicelli, whose 11 points led Carmel. "I was like, 'I'm not letting them get a fast break off this.' We were all playing huge defense this game, and it just happened to be me that play."

When Prairie Ridge missed a shot from just outside the lane at the buzzer, Carmel had hung on to improve to 2-0.

The Corsairs led 34-23 after three quarters, but Prairie Ridge's 5-foot-3 Haleigh Danek (12 points) sank back-to-back 3-pointers, and the Wolves opened the quarter with 11 straight points to pull even.

Sarah McHugh's post-up move put the Corsairs back in front, and Jackie Meier's long jumper made it 38-34, but the Wolves tied it up again.

"We just didn't contest or we got stuck on screens," Perz said. "They went on their little run and we were able to hold them off. I think that speaks maybe to the senior leadership on our team and our toughness this year."