Providence Catholic rolls past Joliet Central in second game of WJOL Tournament

NEW LENOX – After losing its season opener to Plainfield North on Monday, the Providence Catholic girls basketball team got the bounce back it was looking for two days later.

Molly Parker scored 26 points, Taylor Healy added 13, and the Celtics dominated the Joliet Central Steelmen to pick up their first victory of the season, 64-38 in the WJOL Tournament on Wednesday.

Providence (1-1) couldn’t be stopped on offense as it surpassed its point total from its 46-34 loss to Plainfield North before halftime. After falling behind 3-2 on Wednesday, the Celtics pulled ahead and the result was never in question the rest of the night.

“We had a rebound from Monday,” Providence coach Eileen Copenhaver said. “We have seven new players on the squad, so we’re trying to put pieces together. Our first few weeks we had players still with volleyball and cross country, so we had a bit of a slower start than we wanted to. This is a big process and it’s going to take time with all of the new people, but I felt like they responded well.”

A 3-pointer by Alexis Bradley briefly gave Joliet Central the lead in the early stages of the game, but it was all Providence the rest of the first half. The Celtics went up 9-3 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter, and the Steelmen didn’t get their second basket of the night until 3:35 left in the first. A contested layup by Eilish Raines to extend the Providence lead to 18-5.

It was more of the same in the second period as Parker and Healy continued to pour it on, growing the advantage to 25-5 before another triple by Bradley two minutes in. The Steelmen were able to get as close as 25-11, but a 10-0 run by the Celtics changed the flow again in a hurry.

Another Bradley 3 cut it to 35-14 with less than a minute left in the half, but Claire Wajda responded with a layup to make the score 37-14 at the break.

Credit Bradley and the Steelmen for refusing to quit. Joliet Central actually outscored Providence 15-13 on the back of Bradley’s 3-point shooting and the layup game of Neveah Wright. They still trailed by 21 going into the fourth, however, and the Celtics maintained control the rest of the game.

“I think we were nervous the first game, and we had to get those nerves out,” Healy said. “Everyone was getting those nerves out. Tonight we were ready to go, in our house and ready to do our thing.”

Seven other Celtics also scored on the night outside of Parker and Healy, with Raines contributing six points and Carina Diorio adding five.

The Steelmen (0-2) also were hoping for a bounce-back effort after a 56-40 loss to Lincoln-Way Central to open the season Monday. Things went in the opposite direction, however, as Wednesday was even more lopsided.

There are pieces to build on for Central, however, as Bradley was sensational. She scored 23 of the team’s 39 points, including six 3-pointers. Wright added six points, while four other Steelmen put up points. An offense that only scored five points in the opening quarter will need to get better starts moving forward, however, coach Laura Brumfiel said.

“We have to come out ready to play,” she said. “We have to come out from the jump. We scored [well] in the third quarter, but we had [five] in the first quarter. We have to play in the first quarter the way we played in the third quarter.”

Joliet Central will play Plainfield North on Friday, while Providence will play Lincoln-Way Central. Both games will determine what game they play in the WJOL Tournament finals Thursday. Parker believes that the team just needs to stay focused on building the program one game at a time.

“Obviously, we need more time for everyone to get more reps and into the game,” she said. “I think we’re going to be good, though. We have some good, tall players, which is going to help us out a lot. ... [Lincoln-Way Central] knows us pretty well as far as returners, so we need to know that and still be aggressive. We have to work to get every stop and every score.”