The individual trophy was nice for Lily Porter, but the championship hardware was better.
Porter hit six of eight free throws in the fourth quarter, finishing with 13 points and earning tourney MVP honors as Marist got past Lockport 59-54 on Dec. 21 to win Oak Lawn’s Spartan Holiday Tournament.
Grace Harmon scored a game-high 21 points for Marist (11-2) and Olivia Cosme, who joined Porter on the all-tourney team, finished with 12.
“Winning the MVP means a lot,” said Porter, who was celebrating her birthday. “But I think it’s more of a team trophy. Without our team, I couldn’t win it.
“It’s nice to win that, but I’m happy we won the championship.”
Trailing 44-39 after three quarters, the RedHawks used a 13-4 run — capped by two free throws by Harmon — to take a 52-48 lead with 3:25 to play.
“Grace takes a lot of pride in her defense,” Marist coach Renee Chimino said. “Today, she let the game come to her.
“She was frustrated with herself because she hadn’t been scoring so much, so this was great to see from her. She’s definitely capable of that. I’m happy she got to do that because she has the scoring in her. It was great to see that happen today.”
Lockport (13-2) tied it at 52 with 56.9 seconds left before Harmon again gave Marist the lead — this time for good.
Her three-point play made it 55-52 with 44.7 seconds remaining. Harmon then made a pair of free throws with 23.2 seconds to go, making it 57-52.
“I worked over the weekend getting shots up,” she said. “I didn’t let (not scoring much in other games) affect my game.
“I was able to do other things like play defense and rebound. I’m glad that I was able to do that as well.”
“It was a fun one, huh?” Chimino said. “That’s what we’re used to doing. They pick each other up.
“Every game, there’s someone new (who steps up). That’s what this team does.”
The RedHawks were 13 of 17 (76.5 percent) from the foul line in the final eight minutes.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re losing or in a slump,” Porter said. “The game is never over for us. We stepped up in the third quarter and we were able to keep up.
“We didn’t get tired and we didn’t get down on ourselves and that’s really important. …Winning this is important for our team morale. It’s great for us to win this way.”
In the third-place game, host Oak Lawn beat TF South 45-37. Jacky Canales scored all 11 of her points in the first half for the Spartans (8-4), including three 3-pointers. Teagan Krzystof and Danielle Dempsey contributed 10 points apiece for the Spartans. Canales and Krzystof represented Oak Lawn on the all-tournament team.