Marist's Grace Harmon is happy to have her older sister, Isabelle, home for the holidays.
Isabelle, a former Marist player, is a student at Marquette. She returned last week to Chicago -- just in time, in fact, as Grace was struggling with her scoring for the RedHawks.
Some extra sister time at the Marist SportsPlex in Palos Heights was in order.
"I was frustrated with myself, and she rebounded for me and played defense for me," Grace said of Isabelle. "We would work for 45 minutes to an hour."
Marist fans also are glad Isabelle is home because the work she did with Grace paid off.
Harmon erupted for 22 points Saturday in a 59-54 win over Lockport in the Oak Lawn Holiday Tournament championship game. The sophomore guard scored five points in the final 44 seconds.
The 5-foot-5 Harmon, who had eight rebounds, teamed with sophomore forward Lily Porter for 13 of the 20 points that Marist (11-2) scored in the fourth quarter after Lockport took a 44-40 lead through three.
Looking forward to celebrating her 16th birthday on Sunday, Porter received an early present as tourney MVP. Olivia Cosme, who added 12 points against Lockport, was named all-tournament.
"Gracie is great on defense and lets the game come to her," Chimino said. "But she has been frustrated about not scoring as much. I was happy she showed she can do that as well.
"We were waiting for that part of her game to come through, and she's been waiting for that breakout game."
In the third-place game, Oak Lawn prevailed 45-37 over T.F. South. Jacky Canales paced the Spartans (7-5) with 11 points in the first half but missed the second due to a wrist injury. Danielle Dempsey had 10 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and three steals.
Canales and teammate Teagan Krzystof also were named all-tournament, along with Brie Hawthorne for T.F. South (10-4).
The big key for Harmon, however, would be the second half. She scored 13 points, which was big because Porter was in foul trouble and spent more time on the bench than she would have liked.
"I was mad at myself, but I knew that my team could pick up where I left off," Porter said. "I knew everyone could do the same thing as I could, so I was just hyping people up and bringing energy."
Lockport, which suffered back-to-back losses to Homewood-Flossmoor and Marist in a span of 24 hours after winning 13 straight games, raced out to leads of 12-2 and 19-8 Saturday.
The RedHawks didn't panic, though. Last season, when Marist finished with an uncharacteristic 10-22 record, those deficits might have been a cause for concern. But this edition is different.
"Our players are so supportive of each other and we don't get down on ourselves," Harmon said.
"I think we're a third-quarter team or a second-half team," Porter said. "If we're down, I don't think it's a big deal until the final whistle and we are actually losing. We can always come back."
Chimino confirmed the theme of this season's team has been to have a different player take over the scoring duties each game, and it's something that has been working out for Marist.
But Chimino also noted that, even if Harmon had been in a slump on the offensive end, she still brings a lot to the table in other ways.
"She's a defensive player and a ballhawk," Chimino said. "She does everything. She's great."