IC Catholic Prep earns repeat trip to state
Presented with the opportunity to represent her team in the statewide 3-point shooting competition that is part of postseason play, IC Catholic Prep guard Chiara Gaudio opted instead to focus her energies on her play on the court during games to help lead the Knights back to where they were last season — the Class 2A finals.
That determination sure paid off for Gaudio, and the senior's focus rubbed off on her teammates in the process in Monday's Concordia University supersectional showdown against Seton Academy.
Gaudio shot 6 of 6 from the foul line in the final 2:08 of the fourth quarter, and teammates Anjella Farmer and Erin Maloney also came up with big plays down the stretch to help IC Catholic pull out a hard-fought 42-29 victory over the Sting in River Forest to advance to the state semifinals at Illinois State University on Friday.
This marked the second consecutive year that the Knights punched their ticket to Normal with a win over Seton Academy.
“We practice free throws every day in practice,” said Gaudio who shot 9 of 10 in free throws and finished with a team-high 13 points. “I tried to think of it as a practice and they went in today. We are a really resilient team. We fought back, played our game and came out with a win.”
The Knights (20-11) showed a lot character to secure this win. Early on, it looked they were on their way to a runaway victory. Freshman guard Claire Gibler was on fire. She poured in 8 consecutive points, including back-to-back 3-pointers from the left baseline to ignite a 14-0 run to give the Knights a 14-5 lead, which they extended to 16-5 at the end of the quarter after a nice drive by Maloney.
Gibler finished with 11 points in the game, and Farmer chipped in 8 points.
“I was feeling it,” Gibler said. “I am just doing what I do, you know.”
Seton Academy battled back in the second and third quarters as IC Catholic struggled to get any shots to drop. The Knights didn't make a single field goal in the second quarter and only scored 5 points, all on free throws.
“At halftime we knew they were going to come out stronger than ever,” Farmer said.
The Sting (21-7) made its move in the third quarter thanks to some nice shooting by Danielle Bailey, Brittany Hardeman and Alfatinee Boyd, whose 3-pointer from the right corner cut the deficit to 26-24 with 1:13 to play in the third quarter.
“Our defense helped us get back in the game,” said Seton Academy coach Kevin Green. “(The Knights) are a good team.”
IC Catholic executed the basics well in the final eight minutes. The Knights controlled the ball, boxed out on the boards and as time wound down, they sank their free throws as the Sting were forced to foul to stop the clock. Farmer also finished a couple of huge inside moves for buckets while Maloney made four free throws and came up with a big steal and offensive rebound off a free-throw miss.
“I liked how we were able to slow it down, regain our composure and hang tight,” said IC Catholic coach Aubree Schuett. “This team is really focused. They had to decide which side (of the score) they wanted to be on.”
“Going downstate is tremendous for us,” Farmer added. “This year shows so much growth and development as a team. I couldn't be happier.”
Added Gibler: “It is definitely exhilarating (to go to state). You have heard stuff from the upperclassmen and finally you get to experience it for yourself, it's great.”