Bisop McNamara gives Carmel a tough lesson
It took Bishop McNamara's girls basketball team a good two hours to drive from Kankakee to Mundelein for Saturday afternoon's clash at Carmel Catholic.
It took McNamara coach Jeff Bennett about five seconds to drive home a point to his Lady Irish after the first quarter. Carmel was up 17-14 when he delivered an emphatic message.
“Toughness!” he shouted. “It's missing! We need to be tougher!”
Irish eyes weren't smiling at the time.
But that didn't matter to Bennett. He was more concerned about his team's abilities to hear and respond. His driven bunch followed the order between quarters impressively, producing a 13-0 run and allowing only 6 points in the second quarter en route to a 64-41 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.
McNamara (5-2, 1-1), an ESCC member for 12 years, had never left Carmel's gym with a win before Saturday.
“We didn't just play tougher basketball after the first quarter,” Bennett said. “We had more quality possessions, and that was something else we needed. We pride ourselves on defense. Giving up 17 points in a quarter? That's too many.”
Two Irish standouts – senior forwards Erika Tatum and Belinda Schaafsma – combined to score the visitors' first 27 points. Tatum (26 points, 6 rebounds) tallied 19 points in the first half; Schaafsma finished with 16 points and 10 boards.
“Strong, physical players,” said Carmel senior guard Erin Quinn (team-high 14 points, 8 in the first quarter). “That's what they are. We played well against their tough 1-3-1 zone defense in the first quarter. But we needed to be better mentally than we were after that quarter. We didn't take care of the ball.”
Corsairs senior forward Beth Scudder (9 points) halted Mac's 13-0 stretch with a free throw at 1:07 of the second quarter. She then hit the next freebie. But the Lady Irish didn't allow another point until Scudder's bucket at 5:01 of the third quarter.
By that time, McNamara had built a 43-23 cushion, thanks to a 10-0 run. Quinn notched Carmel's lone field goal in the final eight minutes.
“That 1-3-1 they run – flawless,” Carmel coach Kelly Perz said after her club slipped to 7-3, 1-2. “That is such a disciplined team, so well-coached. Our conference is really, really tough. But I'm encouraged after our three conference games, because those games have prepared us so well for our holiday tournament games (at Warren) next week.”
Junior guard Jackie Meier scored 7 points for Carmel, and classmate Sarah McHugh, a 5-foot-10 forward, contributed 6 rebounds and 3 steals.