Caraline Herb comes through for the Saints . . . just like usual

By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

Caraline Herb left the locker room with the weight of the world on her shoulders and a look of exasperation on her face. Eight shots. Eight misses. Zero points in a miserable first half.

Berks Catholic’s 5-7 guard stood under the hoop with her hands on her hips during the halftime warmup. She was still brooding and waiting for a rebound. Abigail Schnatz handed Herb a ball and a chance to start firing away again.

Herb went to the left wing. Swish. Top of the key. Swish. Right wing. Swish. Six consecutive shots effortlessly fell through the net.

“It honestly made me mad,” Herb said. “I was making them there. Then in the game, I was like, ‘Why aren’t they going in?’”

Those practice shots were a sign. Herb’s night was about to get much better.

The junior scored 16 points after intermission and helped spark No. 3 Berks Catholic past seventh-seeded Bermudian Springs 49-46 in overtime in the District 3 Class 4A semifinals at Wolf Gymnasium Tuesday.

Berks Catholic (21-5) will face top-seeded Delone Catholic in the final at Giant Center Saturday at 2:30 p.m. It’s the Saints’ third appearance in the title game in the past seven years.

Herb is one of the county’s most accurate 3-point shooters. She has drilled 148 attempts from beyond the arc in her career. She once made 12 in a single game. When the ball leaves her hand, it feels automatic.

That’s what made those first two quarters so jarring. Herb isn’t used to seeing her shots clang off the rim. 

“Any time she misses, she looks at it like it’s a lost puppy and doesn’t know what’s wrong,” senior Mackenzie Gordos said. “I’m like, ‘You’re fine. Just keep going.’ Whenever she has the ball, I’ll literally be yelling, ‘Shoot the ball!’ ”

Things started to shift in the opening minute of the third quarter. Herb passed up a 3-pointer, she had already missed six at that point, and drove the lane. She hit a high floating shot for her first points. That’s what she needed.

Herb made another layup two minutes later, then two free throws, then a 3-pointer as the quarter was winding down. Nine points in eight minutes. She was back.

“We tell her to keep shooting,” Berks Catholic coach Bob Birmingham said. “When she’s not knocking down the 3, two years ago that would have been it. She does so many other things now on both ends of the floor to help us.”

Berks Catholic found a way to shut down high-powered Bermudian Springs. The Saints’ defense seems to get tougher in the second half. When they should be tiring, they tighten the screws.

Bermudian had the last possession in regulation with the score tied at 40. Berks Catholic’s man-to-man held firm for 34 seconds as the Eagles worked the ball around looking for the winning shot. They had to settle for a desperation 12-footer at the buzzer.

There were so many key moments that pushed Berks Catholic over the top.

Player of the Year Caroline Reedy made two pressure free throws at the end of regulation to forge a tie. Reedy made a layup with 60 seconds left in overtime to put the Saints up one. Madison Langdon hit two foul shots with 11 seconds remaining in OT to stretch the lead to three.

Gordos defended Hannah Chenault, Bermudian’s top 3-point shooter, on the last overtime possession. Berks Catholic’s senior point guard forced a low-percentage shot that wasn’t close.

To knock off the York-Adams champs, the team that stunned mighty Delone Catholic a week earlier, Berks Catholic needed all of those contributions.

“I’m just so proud of them; I’m so happy for them,” Birmingham said. “We had two great practices the last two days. The kids worked hard top to bottom, all 12, on everything we needed to do.”

Herb will take the mantle for Berks Catholic next season. She’ll be the four-year varsity player, the senior leader chasing 1,000 points. This performance proved that the Saints will be in good hands.

If Herb can fight through a night like this, she can fight through anything.

“It was my teammates around me,” she said. “Mackenzie was like, ‘Caraline, you got this.’ I try to keep my head up. Going into the second half it was like a whole new game.”

Herb was 5-for-10 from the field and 4-for-4 at the line after halftime. She scored her team’s first five points in overtime.

Gordos expected nothing less. It’s powerful when people believe in you even when nothing is going right. 

“I knew she was going to come through at the end,” Gordos said. “She always does. She’s an amazing player. As long as we kept her head in the game and told her to keep shooting, she was going to make them.”

Just. Keep. Shooting.

Herb had to trust those three simple words. They were her only way back.