Nazareth beats Lincoln to win Class 3A state title

NORMAL, Ill. — Before she heads off to DePaul to continue her basketball career, Nazareth senior Grace Carstensen had one more item to check off her to-do list.

Erase the memory of last year’s near-miss at the Class 3A state finals.

A year after starring on the Roadrunners team that lost to conference rival Carmel in the title game, Carstensen spearheaded a relentless defensive effort as Nazareth beat Lincoln 63-52 in the 3A final Saturday at CEFCU Arena.

“That was probably one of the moments I’m going to remember the rest of my life,” Carstensen said of last year’s title-game defeat. “Probably one of the most devastating moments of my basketball career. It just sticks with you.”

This game likely will too, but for a different reason. Nazareth won its fourth state trophy since 2019, and — more importantly — the program’s first state title.

The Roadrunners did it by holding Lincoln (36-1) 16 points under its season scoring average. Kloe Froebe, who scored an all-class state tourney record 45 points in the semifinals against Deerfield on Friday, finished with 19 hard-earned points.

Carstensen had five steals to lead the Nazareth defense. That didn’t surprise junior center Olivia Austin, who led Nazareth (35-1) with a game-high 23 points.

“A lot of people say Grace is just a shooter but she’s so much more than that,” Austin said. “She’s improved her game so much this season and over the summer. She’s really like — I don’t even want to say triple threat, more like a quadruple threat.”

The Roadrunners took control at the start of the third quarter, running off the first 13 points to go up 44-25. The lead peaked at 20, enough of a cushion for Nazareth to survive Lincoln’s fourth-quarter comeback.

Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Mary Bridget Wilson scored 11 points, Amalia Dray had 10 and Danielle Scully added eight for the Roadrunners, who started four juniors along with Carstensen.

They won’t get a chance to defend their 3A title, however, because the IHSA’s success factor will bump them up to 4A next season.

“We lose Grace but we have some tremendous freshmen,” coach Ed Stritzel said. “So we feel our future is really secure. We’ll be playing different teams [next season] but our goal is never going to change. It’s been the same since I’ve been here.

“We’re going to try to repeat in 4A.”