C-SE girls burn most of final five minutes off clock, move into title game at State Farm Holiday Classic

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — High school basketball fans clamoring for a shot clock would not have enjoyed the final five minutes of Central-Southeastern’s 39-25 victory over Kankakee Bishop McNamara in the semifinals of the small school girls bracket in the State Farm Holiday Classic on Friday night at the Shirk Center.

Once the Panthers built their lead to 37-23, CSE coach Matt Long ordered his team to run its “Carolina” offense. (College basketball aficionados would remember Dean Smith’s four-corner offense that his teams used with great success at North Carolina in the 1960s and 1970s before the shot clock was implemented in 1985.)

Much of the final five minutes were spent watching the Lady Irish chase the Panthers around with little success. Lauren Miller scored twice, and Bishop Mac went scoreless for more than six minutes before scoring its only basket of the fourth quarter with 1:39 to play.

“I’m perfectly fine without it,” junior guard Karly Peters said of the shot clock. “I mean, we’re going to hold it until someone comes and guards us … and they never did.”

Central-Southeastern will defend its championship from the 2022 tournament at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shirk Center against Galena, which edged Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 25-21. The Pirates are ranked No. 1 in the Class 1A poll and are unbeaten in 13 games. 

Getting the lead was difficult enough for the Panthers that when they finally built it to a comfortable size, Long wasn’t about to give the Lady Irish a chance to come back.

“Maybe we should have a shot clock, and instead of the final score being 13 or 14 points, it might have been 22,” Long said. “I mean, we passed up a lot of easy layups in the last five minutes.

“We were a little surprised that they left their bigs up top and let one just stand in the corner with our girl. That played to our advantage.”

Top-seeded Central-Southeastern (11-2) fell behind 7-0 in the first three minutes, earning an angry timeout from Long.

“I looked in their eyes, and I didn’t say a word to them,” he said. “They’re just like, ‘We need to score right here, and it’s time to go.’”

Four minutes later, CSE tied the score at 10 on a baseline jumper from Claire Huston, her only basket of the game. The Panthers led 13-12, then went more than six minutes without scoring. Bishop McNamara couldn’t capitalize, scoring just two baskets and a free throw while committing seven turnovers and missing six shots.

Remarkably, CSE led 18-17 at halftime despite missing 14 of 21 field goal attempts and turning the ball over 10 times.

“Yeah, we were real comfortable at halftime to be where we were after the way we played early in the game,” Long said. “We didn’t play bad. We were just nervous.”

“I just told myself to calm down (at halftime),” Peters said. “We just had to take care of the ball and work hard on defense.”

Peters followed her own advice. She scored eight points early in the third quarter as the Panthers stretched their lead to 26-19. The Lady Irish never got closer than five after that.

CSE’s defense frustrated Bishop McNamara throughout the game. Senior guard Angel Dickerson, who led the Lady Irish (13-2) with 10 points, continually found the middle of the lane clogged. Trinity Davis, who had made six 3-pointers and scored 48 points in her first two tournament games, made just one shot for two points.

“We were a little bit more worried about (Davis) getting loose and hitting the three,” Long said. “She’s one of the best high school girls shooters I’ve seen, and I don’t think she shot one (3-pointer) today. That was our whole goal, to come out to stop her first. Don’t come off her, and even if (Dickerson) gets penetration, let her get the layup to save the three.”

Miller led CSE with 16 points, and Peters finished with 14.