Herb helps soothe young Saints in comeback victory over Shamrocks
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
LANCASTER — Senior Caraline Herb has been a starter for Berks Catholic since she was a sophomore and a contributor since she was a freshman.
All of the experience and lessons learned throughout her four seasons has led to 66 wins and 881 points and been invaluable to Berks Catholic’s success. Her presence this season has been vital for a young team that has only one other senior.
“She’s our best defender,” Berks Catholic head coach Bob Birmingham said after 57-48 victory over defending District 3 Class 3A champion Trinity Saturday in the Lancaster Catholic Showcase. “She’s the best shooter and offensive player. We rely on her a lot for that, but then we rely on her on the other end to stop the other team’s best offensive player.”
Herb has fine-tuned her leadership and overall skills on a basketball court, leading to her recent commitment to Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia.
“The location was a big reason,” Herb said of her college choice. “I didn’t want to go too far. So I like that, and then (Chestnut Hill head coach Jim Connolly’s) style is amazing. He’s just like Coach Birmingham. He likes to push the ball and emphasize defense.”
Herb also knows two players on Chestnut Hill’s roster, AAU teammates with the Lehigh Valley Fever Avery White (Owen J. Roberts) and Sara Tamoun (Easton).
Herb, a 5-7 guard, showed all the reasons why she’ll be playing at the Division II level in the Saints’ comeback win Saturday.
She was her typical steady self and finished with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. More importantly, she spread her points out, with seven in the first quarter, four in the second, three in the third, and six in the fourth while the Saints’ stellar sophomores scored in spurts.
“She has a really nice calming force when the kids start to get down on themselves,” Birmingham said. “Especially when we’re not in the lead. Caraline brings them back.
“She’s very quiet, but you’ll see her go up to kids at some points and say things to them. It’s all encouraging and she’s a great leader.”
The only other senior on the roster, Sydney Brown, has been out with a minor injury suffered in a Jan. 7 game against Eastern York. Herb was joined in the starting lineup by sophomores Madison Langdon, Sydney Corado and Molly McFadden and junior Gianna Roberts.
The nine-point win might give the impression the Saints (9-4) were in control the entire game; that wasn’t the case. The Shamrocks (8-6) led 13-11 after the first quarter following Liz Davis’ 3-point buzzer-beater.
Trinity opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run and had the advantage until the Saints tied it at 30 heading to the break. Corado kept the Saints in it with 10 of her 12 points in the second quarter.
The Saints came out of halftime with a focus on getting McFadden the ball near the foul line to make plays to break the Shamrock’s tough zone. It worked: She started finding lanes to the rim, moved the ball to the Saints’ shooters, and opened up the offense.
McFadden’s 3 with four minutes left gave Berks Catholic a 48-46; the Saints finished the game on a 9-2 run. They outscored the Shamrocks 17-4 after trailing by four to start the final quarter.
Langdon scored seven of her 11 points and McFadden nine of her 11 in the second half.
“It was a tough game,” Birmingham said. “A physical game was a good game for us. That’s the first time in a while we saw a really good zone. It was good for us to see that and learn how to attack it a little bit.”
Natalie Freed led Trinity with 19 points, but it all came in the first half.
Herb hopes to lead Berks Catholic back to the district final after losing by six points to Delone Catholic last season. Wins like this will help move the Saints — who are currently fourth in Class 4A — up the district power rankings as the regular season nears its completion in about three weeks.
“We can go as far as our defense takes us,” Herb said. “Today our defense wasn’t that strong until the fourth quarter. As long as our defense keeps it up, I think we can go far.”
Having a trio of skilled sophomores growing more comfortable each game will improve the Saints’ chances.
“It’s great playing with them,” Herb said. “They don’t even act like sophomores, to me. They’re like seniors. They score and contribute just as much as anyone else on the floor.”
It helps that they’ve had a player such as Herb to watch, learn from and lean on.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Trinity | 13 | 17 | 14 | 4 | 48 |
| Berks Catholic | 11 | 19 | 10 | 17 | 57 |
| Saints (9-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Herb | 7-14 | 2-4 | 4-9 | 3 | 6 | 20 |
| Corado | 4-8 | 4-4 | 0-4 | 2 | 12 | 12 |
| Mad. Langdon | 3-9 | 4-7 | 1-3 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| McFadden | 4-8 | 2-2 | 1-3 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Roberts | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Mac. Langdon | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Unger | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 19-42 | 12-17 | 7-20 | 12 | 25-32 | 57 |
| Shamrocks (8-6) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Freed | 7-12 | 1-1 | 4-5 | 0 | 8 | 19 |
| Roman | 4-11 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| Kostelac-Lauer | 3-7 | 2-2 | 2-3 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| Davis | 1-1 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Torchia | 2-9 | 0-2 | 0-4 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Smalanskas | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ford | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Broadrick | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brida | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stair | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 17-44 | 6-9 | 8-16 | 5 | 20-22 | 48 |
Turnovers: Berks Catholic 12, Trinity 11.