Besides maybe run the clock, fill in the scorebook and take orders at the concession stand, there wasn’t much more the Carmel girls could have done in the second quarter of their basketball game Wednesday night.

The Corsairs were about as complete and as thorough as they could be in taking complete control of visiting Marian Central.

Thanks in large part to its highly effective full-court press, Carmel forced 14 turnovers in the second quarter alone. Marian Central got off only 5 shots in the quarter…and missed on all of them.

Meanwhile, the Corsairs put together a binge of baskets and out-scored Marian Central a whopping 30-0 in the second quarter.

That paved the way to a 61-29 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory for Carmel, which improves to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the ESCC. Carmel was up 43-8 at halftime.

“We’ve never had a quarter like that, never held a team scoreless,” Carmel coach Kelly Perz said. “I think we played really smart on defense. We’ve been stressing in our press to not reach for the ball but to cause the ball-handler to make the turnover on the pass. We really executed that well and that kind of played into the quarter.”

It didn’t help Marian Central’s cause that top ball-handler Vannessa Garrelts was out for much of the second quarter in foul trouble.

“They were applying a lot of ball pressure and we were unable to handle it,” Marian Central coach Tony Powe said. “With Vannessa not on the floor, you look for people to step up and we had extreme trouble with it.”

The Hurricanes rolled up 28 turnovers on the game. But they showed some spunk coming out of a rough halftime. Marian Central got a 3-pointer from Garrelts (team-high 7 points) on its first possession and scored two quick baskets after that.

“I got on them at halftime, and challenged them to play with some passion and some energy and they did. They played a good (third) quarter,” Powe said. “We just have to play four good quarters. Not one.”

Carmel’s one big quarter was a balanced attack. Seven players scored in the second quarter. Freshman Katie Lach led the way with 13 of her game- and season-high 17 points in the second quarter. She hit three 3-pointers on the game.

“We worked really well as a team, passing the ball and being very unselfish,” Lach said. “And I thought we had our press set up well. We work on that a lot in practice. We’re always ready for the steal.”

Lach is part of a huge youth movement for the Corsairs. She’s one of two freshmen in the starting lineup. The other is Ranya Jamison. Two sophomores are also on the roster, Shai Horton and Brigit Barr.

“(Varsity) is such a faster game. You really have to adapt to it,” Lach said. “But it’s a fun team and the older girls have been super nice and have made us (younger players) feel a part of the team.”

Jennifer Giesey added 12 points for Carmel while Daija Pruitt had 11 points and Jamison finished with 9 points.