Defense, clutch free throws lift Archbishop Carroll to state final

FRANCONIA TWP. — Mary DeSimone’s hot hand from 3-point land in the PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal round helped Archbishop Carroll advance to the final four for a second year in a row.

The senior guard didn’t have many opportunities to shoot the ball Tuesday, but didn’t disappoint when she held Carroll’s state fate in her hands.

DeSimone stood at the foul line in overtime and made both attempts to give Carroll the lead for good against District 11 champion Southern Lehigh. The Patriots then went 9-for-10 at the charity stripe in the extra session en route to a 39-32 victory.

Carroll will thus play District 7 champion Chartiers Valley Saturday in the Class 5A championship game at the Giant Center in Hershey. Carroll is vying for its third PIAA title.

DeSimone was ready for the pressure-packed moment.

“It’s really nerve-wracking, but being a senior I have a lot of scenarios in my head of making (her shots) at the free-throw line,” DeSimone said. “I just kept that image in my head and I made them.”

Carroll scored all nine of its points from the foul line in overtime.

“You’ve got to make free throws, especially at the end of games,” Carroll coach Renie Shields said. “I thought it was key down the stretch. Mary’s were huge. She has been so steady all year.”

Carroll defeated Southern Lehigh for the second time this season. The teams clashed on opening night, way back on Dec. 7, and Carroll came away with a 40-37 victory.

“I feel like you really can’t take a lot from the beginning of the season because we’re a completely different team than we were at the beginning of the season,” DeSimone said.

Well, the Patriots haven’t tasted defeat since Jan. 6, so DeSimone has a point.

“We have come so far together,” she said.

While the Patriots scored 18 points at the foul line, their stellar defense kept a high-powered Southern Lehigh squad to the low-30s on the scoreboard. The Spartans are the team with the amazing Olivia Snyder, a Georgetown recruit and 2,000-point scorer.

 

How were the Patriots going to limit arguably the top college recruit in the state?

“She’s scary,” DeSimone said, “and she’s a lot bigger than me.”

Harlem Jennings, Carroll’s senior guard, was responsible for holding Snyder in check in the second half. With help from freshman guard Grace O’Neill and Simone, Snyder scored six points in the fourth quarter but hardly touched the ball in the five-minute overtime.

“No one can jump that high and rise out of her shot like that,” said O’Neill, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. “We really practiced for them and for their offense (and) we kind of knew what they were going to run. I think we just did a really good job on her. Harlem was assigned to her, but of course we switch everything.”

Snyder still got her points (19), but it could have been much worse. In overtime the Spartans (25-4) turned the ball over three times and Snyder missed two shots from the field.

The Spartans’ decisions were head-scratchers. They allowed someone other than Snyder to dribble the ball up floor. This led to the careless mistakes and turnovers.

Snyder is your typical athletic and rangy Division I player who can dribble, shoot, post up … and do just about everything else. But she didn’t get nearly enough chances to show it.

“I thought they played really good defense against a really good team,” Shields said. “That Snyder kid is one of the best I’ve seen. She’s incredible … but I thought the kids did a good job of containing her. When she scored those early points, I thought we did a nice job on her. You work on things and try different things in the second half and hope it works.”

Carroll (25-5), which has won 18 consecutive games, trailed by three and four points in the fourth quarter. Erin Sweeney (14 points) sank a 3-pointer to even the score at 26 with six minutes to play. The Spartans grabbed a four-point lead on a putback by forward Ellie Cassel (10 points, seven rebounds) with three minutes left.

O’Neill drove to the basket and scored to cut the deficit to two points. Carroll went into a full-court press and Karli Dougherty got a steal. Sweeney was fouled under the basket and hit two free throws to tie the score at 30. The Patriots had the final possession of regulation. Sweeney had a clean look at the basket, but her jump shot fell short.

In OT, the Patriots tuned out a raucous Southern Lehigh student section and made their foul shots. Now they’re going to Hershey.

“Our goal all season was to get to the state championship,” Sweeney said. ‘After losing in the semifinals last year, you kind of feel like … that you really want to get there this year. It means so much. All the players who came before us, the seniors on last year’s team, it’s all for them, too. It feels really nice to accomplish this goal.”