Northwest girls basketball roundup

For the third time in four years, the Hoffman Estates girls basketball team started out a season with the title of the Elk Grove-Lake Park-Hoffman Estates tournament.

Senior Jada Stotts collected 15 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals as Hoffman completed a 5-0 tourney run with a 67-34 triumph over Harlan on Saturday.

The Hawks also received 14 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals from sophomore Destinee Young.

Tanya Skworch added 9 points for the winners while Mary Pettit had 7 points and 3 assists.

Precious Ogunleye and Kelsey Pellus added 5 rebounds apiece while Becca Stoczynski collected 5 points and 3 steals.

Hoffman is now 19-1 in the tourney under coach Mike Nocella. The Hawks' only loss came last year to Elk Grove.

“We are very happy,” Nocella said. “It's a good start as we head into conference play.”

Stotts, Young and Pettit were named to the all-tourney team.

Conant 48, Naperville North 25: Senior Alyssa Rawleigh scored a season-high 16 points and Lindsay Fillingim added 12 points to lead Conant, which finished second in the Waubonsie Valley tourney with a 3-1 record.

The Cougars (4-1 overall) also received 9 points from Lindsay Fillingim.

“The girls came together and they finished the tournament the right way to get second place,” said Cougars coach Dan Travers. “We want to keep improving. It doesn't get any easier when we play state ranked Hersey next.”

That contest on Tuesday will be the Cougars' only home game until the middle of January 2011.

“We played really good team defense,” said Travers, whose club held Naperville to 6 points or less in each of the first three quarters. “We forced the to shoot from the perimeter and we rebounded, and got into a good transition.”

Fillingim popped in three 3-pointers while Rawleigh had a pair.

“Kelly (Lomas, who was 5-of-6 at the free throw line) was able to get to the basket and get fouled,' Travers said. “Lindsay and Alyssa knocked in the 3's.”

Libertyville 39, Barrington 31: The competition in the Bison Classic got stronger this year.

So did the defending champions.

Libertyville's girls basketball team won the six-team round-robin for the second straight season, going 5-0 after notching a 39-31 victory over Barrington (3-2) at Buffalo Grove High School.

“This season, there was more competition, said 5-foot-9 senior forward Kaca Savatic, who has played on Kathie Swanson's varsity the last three years. “The teams were stronger but we are stronger, too.”

“There were a lot of quality teams in this tournament and Barrington was one of them,” Swanson said. “We knew they would keep pushing and come back after we got the lead on them. We had to keep sustaining and keep pushing.”

The Fillies, which fell behind 10-0, pulled to within 32-29 on senior Abby Kirchoff's steal and layup with 2:58 left.

Kirchoff led the Fillies with 11 points while classmate Sarah Mass added 8.

“Libertyville played really hard,” Mass said. “They go 100 percent for four quarters. If you don't come ready to match that, it's going to be hard to beat them as we found out.”

“Obviously, that start (10-0 deficit) put us in a pretty good hole but I was certainly happy with how we responded in the second half,” said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. “I am disappointed that we didn't bring that intensity for all four quarters. This is a senior group that knows better.”

The Fillies were 12-of-43 from the floor.

“And we put them on the free throw line (16-of-20) too much,” Barreiro said. “We just lacked the intensity the first two quarters.”

Shelby Whigham helped the Fillies on the boards with 7 rebounds while Kirchoff had 4 steals.

“Overall the tournament was a good start for us,” Mass added. “We saw a lot of things we have to work on. We have new expectations for the season. We want to keep doing the good things we've done, and correct the bad.”

Coincidentally, Swanson and Barreiro each have an assistant coach who starred on the Buffalo Grove floor Melissa Gorski for Libertyville and Jennifer Guth for Barrington.

Brooke Chandor and Whigham were all-tourney selections for Barrington.

Maine South 65, Buffalo Grove 58: Alanna Zawlocki, a top attacker for the Bison volleyball team this fall, was the top scorer for the basketball team Saturday.

The senior netted a career-high 14 points while frontline partner Bailey North added 12 as BG finished 1-4 in its own Bison Classic.

“Alanna is a great athlete,” said BG coach Pat Dudle of Zawlocki, who also plays badminton. “She gives it her all every day. She has a lot of heart.”

“We were patient on offense and looking for the open layup,” said Zawlocki, who made 5 field goals and 4 free throws. “This tournament showed us we can play with anyone. We just have to keep our heads into the game for the whole 32 minutes.”

Emily Georgoulis added 11 points for BG and KC Dunne 10. All-tourney selection Andrea DiPrima chipped in five for the Bison.

“Scoring has not been an issue,” said Bison coach Pat Dudle. “We must focus on 32 minutes of good defense. We are showing spurts of it. We just need to sustain it.”

Maine South junior Michelle Maher scored a game-high 25 points (three 3-pointers) as the Hawks finished the tourney at 3-2 and are 4-2 overall.

“Michelle was the key,” said Hawks coach Mark Smith. “She stepped up an hit a couple of 3's. She played all but one minutes in the game. And she played pretty tough defense. She had to defend Andrea DiPrima.”

Maher is one of three juniors who start for South along with two sophomores.

“We're young but experienced,” said Smith, whose team lost to tourney champ Libertyville in overtime on Friday.

Elk Grove 53, Clemente 23: Sophomore Kelly Naughton scored a game-high 16 points with 7 steals for Elk Grove, which took second place in the Elk Grove-Lake Park-Hoffman Estates tourney.

Michelle Calmeyn added 9 points (1 3-pointer) fro the Grens and freshman Melissa Solorio 8.

Maggie Fries collected 7 points with a 3-pointer.

Naughton and classmate Diamond Boyd (8 rebounds) were named to the all-tourney team.

Prospect 39, Lyons 37: Sarah Winans (11 points), Sarah Hunt (9) Maura Benson (8) led Prospect (2-2, 2-3) in its final game of the Lyons tournament.

The Knights rallied from a 29-16 halftime deficit.

“Our posts did a good job,” said Prospect coach Martha Kelly. “They were active and looking for each other.”

Michele Molini added a 3-pointer for Prospect, which did not allow a point in the fourth quarter.

Hersey 56, Maine West 23: Hersey (3-1) jumped out to a 19-2 first-quarter lead and never looked back while improving to 2-1 in the Maine West Tip-Off Classic.

Huskies senior all-stater Megan Rogowski scored a game-high 23 points with a pair of 3-pointers.

Hersey senior forward Stefanie Mueller scored a career-high 10 points while freshman Renee Poulos and sophomore Ashley Raulli each scored their first varsity points.

Jen Hall and Michaela Dwyer each chipped in 8 points for the Huskies.

Freshman Brittany Collins led Maine West (0-4, 0-3) with 8 points while Amanda Hoye added 6.