Stevenson clamps down on Carmel in 2nd half
Emma Brooks and Nisha Musunuri earned some extra credit for the geometry lesson the Stevenson girls basketball team administered defensively Thursday night at Carmel.
Brooks and Musunuri spent most of the second half hounding Ashley Schlabowske and Keira Ackerson, the Corsairs' top scorers, in a triangle-and-two defense. Their efforts helped reward the Patriots as they broke away from a halftime tie to a 43-31 nonconference victory between 2022 state champions in Mundelein.
"We get energy off our defensive pressure," said Musunuri after Stevenson held Carmel to 12 second-half points on 6-for-20 shooting. "It gives us energy to go back on offense."
Brooks contributed 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from 3-point range and Musunuri added 8 points as Stevenson (10-1) won its eighth consecutive game. DePaul-bound 6-foot-2 senior Emory Klatt, who earlier this season joined Tauja Catchings as the only players in program history with 1,000 career points and rebounds, had 13 points and 18 rebounds.
Musunuri made Schlabowske, a senior 18-point averager going to Wisconsin-Whitewater, work hard for her 15 points on 7-for-16 shooting. Ackerson (6 points, 6 rebounds) hit consecutive 3s early in the second quarter but only got one more shot the rest of the way against Brooks.
"We wanted to speed them up and take their best players out of the game," Musunuri said after the Patriots played a lot of 1-2-2 zone in a 19-19 first half.
"Ashley is a big playmaker for them," Brooks said. "Once Nisha shut her down they were scrambling a little bit on what they wanted to do."
Brooks' 3 on a feed from Kendell Williams in transition and Williams' pull-up 13-footer on the run started a 13-2 tear after halftime for a 32-21 lead. Schlabowske's transition layup was her only shot in a third quarter where Carmel was 2-for-7 with 6 turnovers.
"It wasn't in the game plan at all but I'm really, really proud of the way the girls worked so hard," said first-year coach Regan Carmichael of the triangle-and-two Stevenson also used in a Monday win over Evanston. "With two chasing and three in the triangle, they worked really, really well together."
Carmel got within 32-25 on Schlabowske's layup off a turnover with 7:36 left. Laurel Jewell (7 points, 10 rebounds) answered with a 3-point play off a miss as part of Stevenson's rebound advantages of 32-18 overall and 13-4 offensively.
"That (defense) threw us off some and they're good at it," said Carmel coach Ben Berg. "I have to do a better job of preparing the girls. We've seen zones, but not like that and it makes things hard.
"I thought we did a good job when we did pressure (full-court) but if we're going to beat teams that play defense like that we have to get stops and push the ball in transition."
The matchup of state champs from just two years ago - Stevenson in Class 4A and Carmel in 3A - was also a nice test heading into the holidays.
"It was really exciting," Brooks said. "It's always fun to play against really good teams."