Dominican holds off Mount Carmel for Sugar Bowl Silver bracket title

WESTWEGO, La. – A pair of familiar rivals squared off for the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic.

In the end, the team with more size and a bright young talent had a little more to claim the championship.

Dominican never trailed in a competitive game and prevailed 36-32 over District 9-5A rival Mount Carmel in the Silver bracket championship game of the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic at the Alario Center Saturday.

Freshman Grace Hamblin led the way for Dominican. A force throughout the tournament, Hamblin scored nine points and pulled down five rebounds.

Dominican took the early advantage, going on a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 lead and led 13-7 after one quarter on the strength of six points from Anjah Yunusah and five points from Grace Hamblin.

Dominican grew the lead to 19-12 before the Cubs closed the first half on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 19-18 by the break. Jordan Berry had six points in the half for Mount Carmel.

Dominican had the edge in the third quarter, opening the quarter on an 8-0 run before the Cubs closed the period on a 4-0 run to make it 27-22 Dominican heading to the final quarter.

Dominican (20-1) built the lead to 33-24 in the final quarter before the Cubs closed to 35-30 but could get no closer.

Hamblin was named the tournament Most Valuable Player while Kylie Barre’ had eight points and four rebounds. Yunusah finished with six points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

“It feels great for our whole team,” Hamblin said. “Teamwork is the thing. It gets you everywhere. We really work on it every day at practice. Our defense was good, Defense wins championships. I couldn’t have done it without my team. It’s great. It’s a big win against a rival.”

Junior Jordan Berry topped Mount Carmel (12-4) with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists while Miranda Strassel had eight points and three assists for the Cubs.

The win was the 12th straight for Dominican while the loss snapped a four-game win streak for Mount Carmel.

“We’re a young team that continues to grow,” said Dominican head coach Ryan Reuter. “We are gaining experience. We always play hard and that gives us a chance to win. We never really felt comfortable with the lead. One thing we’ve really been working on is our defense. At times, it hasn’t been really good but today, we stepped up. Grace works hard and we rode her throughout the tournament.

The two rivals will meet twice in District 9-5A play on Jan. 25 at Dominican ant Feb. 5 at Mount Carmel.

“District will really be tough,” Reuter said. “It is a rivalry with them and we know they will be tough in district play. We look forward to the challenge.”

Final
Dominican 13 5 9 9 36
Mt. Carmel 7 11 4 10 32

Scoring
DOM—Grace Hamblin 9, Kylie Barre’ 8, ahjah Yunusah 6, Alyssa Helwig 4, Emily Adams 4, Kate Baker 3

MCA—Jordan Berry 10, Miranda Strassel 8, Ali Christofferson 6, Megan Bickmann 4, Addison Prince 2, Amelia Troutman 2, Taylor Wilkins 2