Girls basketball: Providence Catholic avenges last year’s playoff loss, ends Sycamore’s season

GLEN ELLYN – There may be no greater motivator than avenging a stinging loss.

A year ago, Providence Catholic lost to Sycamore in a Class 3A sectional semifinal.

A hard defeat, to be sure. But the two teams met again in the same round Tuesday at Glenbard South.

This time, things were different. Using a swarming, collapsing defense that neutralized Sycamore’s 6-foot-4 senior center Evyn Carrier, the Celtics ran away with a 47-36 victory.

They advanced to face Montini in the sectional final Thursday night.

“We lost by a good margin last year, and our kids remembered, and we had extra motivation, I think,” Providence coach Eileen Copenhaver said. “We knew what we had to do, the kids bought into our game plan, and they executed very well.”

The Celtics used a 12-1 run at the end of the first quarter and early in the second to jump out to a 19-9 lead.

Carrier went to work in the second quarter, scoring 12 of her game-high 19 points in the period. She added four rebounds and finished with 16 boards for the evening.

Then it began a battle of attrition, with both teams playing basically even until the fourth quarter, when Sycamore tied the score at 34.

That’s when Providence’s tandem of Annalise Pietrzyk and Gabi Bednar went to work.

Together, they engineered a 13-2 run to end the game and aided their team’s effort at the free-throw line, going 9 for 12.

“We wanted to deny her mostly, and then when she caught it, double her because we felt like we could get a lot of tie-ups and jump balls,” Pietrzyk said of Carrier. “And then obviously on the boards it was a challenge, so everyone had to rebound and box out.”

Pietrzyk finished with 14 points and five rebounds, while Bednar checked in with 13 points and three rebounds.

“It’s a tough one, especially the way we were playing the second half of the season,” Sycamore coach Adam Wickness said. “I thought we had good positive momentum heading into sectionals. There was a lot to be proud of in terms of our toughness and how we moved the ball and shared the ball.”

Sycamore junior Lexi Carlsen, a Northern Illinois recruit, scored eight points and added five boards.

It was a tough end to Carrier’s career, but she’s looking forward to her next challenge at Western Michigan. What will she remember most about high school basketball?

“[I’ll remember] just my team, and the chemistry and the culture Sycamore brings,” she said. “I never went to practice dreading it. I always had a smile on my face no matter how early or late it was.”