Mother McAuley’s Delia Sullivan learned to play golf from her father, Patrick. Her mother Colleen, however, taught the junior guard how to play basketball.
That tag-team sports combination has worked out pretty well for Delia, who shot an 82 in October to help the Mighty Macs win the first regional championship for golf in school history.
“That was exciting,” she said. “We were super excited. It was huge for the whole golf program.”
On the basketball court Monday night, she had her teammates and fans excited as well.
The 5-foot-7 Sullivan scored 16 points and had a huge assist to lead host McAuley to a 59-54 win over St. Laurence in a Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Tournament first-round game in Chicago.
Quinn Arundel led the seventh-seeded Mighty Macs (16-10) with 23 points and four steals, while Evie Skog came up with 13 points and five rebounds.
Freshman forward Marlee-Michelle Coleman paced 10th-seeded St. Laurence (9-8) with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman guard McKenzie-Alyse Saffold added 11 points, including a half-court basket at the buzzer to end the first quarter. Maeve McNamara added 10 points.
McAuley, which beat St. Laurence by a 66-48 margin on Jan. 27, only held a 50-49 lead with 3:30 remaining in the fourth quarter Monday. That’s when Sullivan came up with the play of the game.
She had a path to the basket for a layup, but instead zinged the ball to Skog in the corner. Skog then hit a 3-pointer to put McAuley up 53-49, giving the Mighty Macs a key surge of momentum.
“That was a great, unselfish play,” McAuley coach Curtis Lewis said. “It led to a three instead of a two, so credit her to trusting her teammate. She gave up a great shot to get an even better one.”
After the assist, Sullivan came up with a block and a steal in the final two minutes to seal the win for the Mighty Macs, who advance to Tuesday’s GCAC quarterfinals against second-seeded Loyola in Wilmette.
St. Laurence, which had three freshmen in the starting lineup, will to take on Rosary in the consolation bracket of the tournament, also Tuesday at Loyola.
Skog, meanwhile, was happy to get the ball from Sullivan to make the big 3-pointer.
“She’s a good passer,” Skog said of Sullivan. “We have a real good chemistry on the floor.”
“I just knew I was hitting Evie in the corner,” Sullivan said of Skog. “She steps up in big situations and I knew she would hit that shot.”
Speaking of stepping up, the Mighty Macs have been learning how to step up as a team after a season-ending hand injury to sophomore guard/forward Taji Alexa.
Alexa, who got hurt in a Jan. 24 game against St. Ignatius, was leading McAuley in scoring with an 18.3 average and in rebounds with a 6.4 average. She’s also averaging 2.5 steals and 1.7 assists.
“For sure, Taji was a key component to our team,” Skog said. “But everyone is stepping up and taking responsibility to fill her shoes.”
Regardless of those shoes, whether it’s sneakers or golf spikes, Sullivan has been enjoying her two-sport status at McAuley. So far, though, she has been getting college interest for basketball.
“I love both sports equally — whatever season I’m in is my favorite,” she said. “I was 4 when my mom had me shooting at the rec center in the South Loop. My dad got me to play golf when I was young and we were in a father-daughter league.
“I like that basketball is a team sport and everyone plays together. I like golf because it’s also a team sport but you can focus on it individually.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
