City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue
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Archbishop Carroll senior Bridget Grant describes herself as a good team player.

“Whatever my team needs from me in the moment,” Grant said of her role.

For most of Tuesday night’s game against Notre Dame, that meant tough defense, fighting for rebounds, making an extra pass, setting a screen.

Then all of a sudden Grant found the ball in her hands and the clock winding down. She rose to the occasion, nailing a go-ahead 3-point shot with three seconds left as Archbishop Carroll downed Notre Dame, 49-48, to open its season

“Not exactly,” Grant said when asked if the play was drawn up for her. “We’re obviously looking for our big players and everything, but the defense is going to swarm to them, so you just have to be ready for the shot."

Archbishop Carroll senior Bridget Grant is congratulated by her teammates after hitting the game winning shot Tuesday against Notre Dame. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

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Senior Alexis Eberz scored 13 points and junior Abbie McFillin scored 12 for Carroll in the win. Notre Dame junior Riley Davis finished with 17 points, and senior Emma Anthony added 13, scoring 11 in the second half to help rally the Irish from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter.

Carroll led 37-23 with two and a half minutes left in the third. Anthony drilled one of three third-quarter triples to make it single digits, 39-31, heading to the fourth. The lead was down to one by the mid-point of the final period, but Notre Dame trailed until junior Ava Hall put the Irish up, 48-46, on an and-one with 12.3 ticks left in the game.

After Carroll advanced the ball and called timeout, Grant inbounded to McFillin. Though the Patriots were trying to work the ball inside, McFillin took a pair of dribbles toward the baseline before finding Grant open on the right wing. She let it fly right away.

“I think I just saw my defender sink in a little bit, so I just had to have my hands and feet ready and then when I caught it I was like, ‘OK, time’s up. Gotta shoot it,’” Grant said.

Grant, who announced her commitment to Ursinus College on Monday, has progressed year-by-year during her time in the Carroll program. She broke into the varsity rotation as junior last season, averaging 1.6 ppg in 24 games played.

Tuesday night marked the first start of Grant’s career. She had a pair of assists and three steals to go along with her four points, chipping into an impressive Patriots’ defensive effort as well.

“She’s always had the IQ,” Carroll coach Renie Shields said. “Now, she’s starting to use it a lot more with a little bit of confidence. Our focus on her is to just take care of the ball, and she’s been doing it really well to start the season. I thought she just stepped up today and played really well.”

“Last year, she wouldn’t have taken that shot. This year, she’s like, ‘Give me the ball,’ and then she shot the shot. It’s a great shot, and I’d give it to her again.”

Grant and Eberz are the only two seniors on this year’s Carroll roster. Eberz, a Villanova commit, has been a big piece for the Patriots since she was a freshman.

She had nine points at half and added four more in the third quarter before fouling out in the fourth. With their senior star out of the game, Carroll needed others to step up late.

Junior Cate Schumacher (seven points, four steals, two blocks) made some big plays. McFillin and Kayla Eberz (seven points, eight rebounds, three steals) had their moments. In the end it was the lone senior on the floor who made the biggest play of the game.

“I’ve always seen Bridget as a leader,” Eberz said. “Especially freshman year, she was the only person I had coming in. She has a really important role on our team. She’s a great person, great teammate. She brings a lot to the table.”

“She’s a great shooter,” she added. “I was confident, and I trusted her that it was going in.”

Grant is excited to take over that leadership role alongside Eberz this season with the departures of last year’s senior group that included Olivia Nardi, Bridget Arhcbold, Madeleine McFillin and Brooke Olender.

“Me and Lex this year, we both know that we really have to step up and be leaders because there’s only two of us,” Grant said. “Lex fouls out of the game, so I’m the only senior on the court. It’s a big position to step up to, but we made it work.”

Without a true forward, the Patriots will need her to step up in a variety of different ways in her senior campaign — even if it’s not always knocking down the big shot.

She’s been preparing for the role for the last four years, working hard to earn special moments like Tuesday night.

“She didn’t play much, you know, we had some really talented girls. It’s like wait your turn, which is really hard, but one thing about Bridget, she stayed consistent,” Shields said. ”She kept coming back at it, and she worked at it really hard this summer. You can see a clear improvement.”

“As a coach, you like to see girls develop over four years and see the result. And I’m hoping to see more results from Bridget.”

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By Quarter
ND:  9  |  7   |   15   |  17  ||  48
AC:  14   |  13  |   12   |  10  ||  49

Scoring
ND: Riley Davis 17, Emma Anthony 13, Grace Nasr 8, Alex Gillin 5, Ava Hall 5.

AC: Alexis Eberz 13, Abbie McFillin 12, Cate Schumacher 7, Kayla Eberz 7, Evie Lawrence 5, Bridget Grant 4, Olivia Hermanovich 1