NORMAL — Grace Sullivan has started for Carmel in every game since she arrived on the Mundelein campus.
But the 6-foot-4 senior center’s penultimate game in a Corsairs uniform was like no other.
Sullivan returned to Redbird Arena on Friday for the first time since she watched the 2019 Class 3A state tournament as a spectator, and this time she was playing.
“I saw a picture on my phone the other day,” Sullivan said. “It was from three years ago of this court. Just seeing that, this is the motivation — to come back here and play on that floor.”
Sullivan, a Bucknell recruit, gave the crowd quite a show in a state semifinal against Civic Memorial. She made 8 of 11 shots and finished with 18 points and nine rebounds to power the Corsairs to a 51-24 rout in their first appearance at state.
Carmel (27-7) advances to play Nazareth (33-2), which defeated Morton 55-24, in the state championship game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in a rematch between East Suburban Catholic Conference rivals. Nazareth won each of their two regular-season meetings by double-digits, but the Corsairs have won seven straight since losing 58-47 on Feb. 5.
Sullivan’s dominance against Civic Memorial (32-5) reflected Carmel’s obvious advantage: height. The Eagles don’t have a starter taller than 5-9. Carmel’s starters include 6-5 junior guard Jordan Wood, a Michigan State recruit, and 6-1 junior forward Mia Gillis. The Corsairs scored 40 points in the paint.
“We knew we had a size advantage, and we wanted to get the ball inside because they were a lot smaller,” Sullivan said.
Already in control, the Corsairs reeled off the first 12 points of the third quarter and outscored Civic Memorial 27-12 in the second half.
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Wood overcame early foul problems, which kept her on the bench in the second quarter, to score eight of her 10 points in the second half. Sophomore guard Ashley Schlabowske added eight points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Wood was a nonfactor offensively in Carmel’s 49-37 supersectional win against Sycamore on Monday. She said she felt relieved to contribute against Civic Memorial.
“It felt really good because in the last couple of games I hadn’t been scoring a lot,” Wood said. “The Sycamore game was just an off game for me. So coming into this game, I didn’t want to have another off game. After scoring two points, I knew I had to get it out in the second half.”
Civic Memorial made just 4 of 26 shots from 3-point range, compounding its size disadvantage. Junior guard Aubree Wallace scored a team-high eight points. Senior guard Kelbie Zupan, the Eagles’ leading scorer at 13.2 points per game, missed all six of her shots and was held scoreless.
Sullivan had two of Carmel’s six blocks, and Gillis had three.
“My game is all about driving to the basket and going in strong and hard, but they definitely affected my game,” Zupan said. “They dominated us on the boards, and there was not much we could do.”
Carmel coach Ben Berg said Sullivan, who entered the game averaging 14.5 points and 7.4 rebounds, has been slowly developing her game since becoming a starter on day one out of necessity.
“We had some injuries, so we had to bring her up to the varsity as a freshman,” Berg said. “It gave her a taste of what the varsity level would be like, and then she decided to play year-round. Her evolution from freshman to sophomore was pretty big. Sophomore to junior was bigger. But from last year to this year is off the charts on how much she’s improved.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.