Homewood-Flossmoor coach Tony Smith calls Jemiyah McDonald his team’s “jack of all trades.”
McDonald’s favorite trade is defense, which the junior guard showed off Thursday night with the Vikings’ season on the line.
“I like defense because it gives the team more energy,” McDonald said after her steal and score in the fourth quarter turned out to be the play of the game. “Offense doesn’t really give people energy the way defense does.
“If you get a steal or a big play on defense, it’s better than shooting the ball on offense.”
McDonald came through, helping top-seeded Homewood-Flossmoor hold on for a 47-41 win over the host Warriors in the Class 4A Lincoln-Way West Regional championship game in New Lenox.
Jaeda Murphy totaled 17 points and five rebounds to lead the top-seeded Vikings (21-7), who advanced to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. semifinal at the Joliet West Sectional. McDonald and Layla Pierce added eight points apiece.
Peyton Madl scored 10 points for eighth-seeded Lincoln-Way West (15-15). Mackenzie Roesner added nine points, Caroline Smith finished with six points and seven rebounds and Reagan McCracken contributed five points and nine rebounds.
The Warriors lost to the Vikings by 17 points during the regular season but gave them all they could handle this time.
Lincoln-Way West trailed just 38-36 and had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead with just over five minutes to go when McDonald got aggressive, ripping the ball away for a steal and dashing down the court for a momentum-changing basket.
“I feel like my team needed it, but if I didn’t get that steal, I feel like we would have still been going,” McDonald said. “The steal kind of helped the energy for our team.
“After that, we got another steal and came down and scored again.”
Aunyai Deere made that basket, increasing the lead to 42-36, and the Vikings were able to close things out from there.
McDonald’s big moment came as no surprise to her teammates and coaches.
“Jemiyah brings a lot for us,” Murphy said. “Some people might not realize it because it seems like she’s not much of a scorer. She gets everybody involved, and she really brings that defensive energy. She brings that good spirit to the team.”
McDonald has firmly embraced her role for H-F.
“Every game, I try to get at least five steals and a couple rebounds and a couple points,” she said. “But mostly, I focus on defense.
“You have to work on defense. Mostly, you have to get in shape and run. You have to be light on your feet, keep your hands moving, stay moving.”
McDonald also had a rare scoring outburst with six points in the first half. Those were especially key, with H-F struggling as Pierce went out with an injury in the second quarter before returning after halftime.
“She’s a lefty who can shoot it,” Smith said of McDonald. “But she just doesn’t like to miss, so that’s why she doesn’t shoot more. She gets embarrassed when she misses or makes a mistake, but she can shoot it.”
Murphy said she hopes the Vikings can learn from nearly having their season end much sooner than expected. McDonald confirmed she was feeling some nerves down the stretch.
“It was tight,” McDonald said. “It was kind of overwhelming a little bit. But we pushed through it and we got the win.”
And McDonald was one of the biggest reasons why.
“She’s the engine,” Smith said of McDonald. “A person may come in and look at the scorers and overlook her. But she does a lot. She can get in the gap for steals, she can pass the ball, she’s a tough help-side defender.
“She’s a tough kid.”
