The Archbishop Carroll girls basketball team started its season with a thriller victory, taking down Academy Notre Dame de Namur 49-48 in the game’s final seconds of play.
Carroll is coming off a red-hot year during which it reached the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game as well as the state semifinals. The Lady Pats retained the majority of last season’s core roster, which consists of captains Alexis Eberz and Bridget Grant and juniors Abbie McFillin, Cate Schumacher, and Liv Hermanovich. The Lady Pats also have youth, with returning sophomores Kayla Eberz, Kelsey Eberz, and Evie Lawrence, as well as freshman Haley Clark.
The Lady Pats picked up right where they left off, winning the first quarter by a score of 14-9. The girls increased their lead to 16 points early in the second quarter, but then Notre Dame battled back and brought the lead down to 11 points before the halftime buzzer buzzed. The overall momentum was trending in favor of the Patriots, who were playing phenomenal basketball but at times getting a little sloppy, possibly because of their high paced speed of play.
“We want to be quick but not rush,” said Coach Renie Shields. “We have to learn how to slow the game down mentally.”
McFillin was the warrior of the third quarter, being the main ball handler for the squad and stepping up in clutch moments. Alexis Eberz tacked on six more points in the third quarter. However, the Lady Pats were slowly losing the momentum they had gained in the prior quarters, with Emma Anthony knocking down three straight three balls and evaporating the Patriots’ lead.
With the Pats only up eight points going into the fourth quarter, they needed to play stellar defense to hold on.
The start of the fourth quarter was going well with McFillin scoring five points and Hermanovich piling on a free throw. The Pats were battling back and forth with the Irish. Late in the fourth quarter, Carroll took a massive blow, with Alexis Eberz picking up her fifth personal foul, removing her from the game in the contest’s most crucial moments. With the Patriots up 1 in the winding moments of the game, Notre Dame inbounded the ball to guard Ava Hall, who put up a desperation shot that found the net. Hall was fouled on the play and went to the line with the chance to put the Irish up two points. Her free throw was good and the Lady Pats trailed by two with 9.7 seconds remaining in the game. The Patriots inbounded on the sideline. Grant passed it in to McFillin, who almost immediately got it back to Grant. Grant was wide open on the wing and popped a wide open triple that was absolutely money. The unlikely hero was Grant, who drilled her first shot of the game in the biggest moment of the game. Notre Dame would not score with the three seconds they had left on the clock and the Patriots held on to win their first game in a thriller.
“I’m the only senior on the court,” Grant said, remarking on the position she found herself in after Alexis Eberz left the floor. “It’s a big position to step up to. We made it work.”
The coach was pleased with the result of the nail biter.
“When you win a game like that, you’re happy,” Shields said. “You walk off the court and say, ‘Next game.’”
