Fremd holds off Buffalo Grove
In their three seasons on the Fremd girls basketball team, Megan Gray, Bridget Kubis, Jaimie Groot and Jessi Wiedemann have played in three regional championship games.
But the one at Buffalo Grove on Thursday night was like no other.
Those Vikings and fifth-year coach Dave Yates notched their first regional crown after withstanding an all-out effort by league rival Buffalo Grove, which was playing on its home floor.
Despite being plagued by foul trouble all night, the No. 7-seeded Bison were in the game to the final seconds before No. 2 Fremd secured a 49-46 triumph to advance to the Mundelein Class 4A sectional.
“I can describe this in one word — crazy,” Yates said. “We did a lot of things we don’t normally do to keep the game interesting. We’re usually pretty good at putting games away at the free-throw line. For some reason that didn’t happen tonight.
“But there’s the state tournament expression “survive and advance” and that’s what we did. We did enough to win.”
On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the Vikings (25-6) will face the winner of today’s Grant regional final between No. 3 Stevenson and No. 6 Barrington.
As it has nearly all season, Fremd soared in the third quarter, turning a 3-point halftime lead into a 10-point cushion going into the final period.
Groot’s lean-in bank shot to start the fourth quarter gave Fremd a 39-27 lead.
But just like they have for the last two months, the Bison (17-15) battled back and came within 43-40 when Emily Georgoulis fired home a 3-pointer from the left side with 2:42 left in the game.
Two free throws by Emily Cho brought BG to within 48-44 with 43.6 seconds left.
The Vikings missed 3 free throws in the next 30 seconds before sophomore reserve Carly Cheever hit a 17-footer from the baseline to cut the lead to 48-46 with 5.2 seconds left.
Sophomore Ashley McConnell (game-high 15 points) then made 1 of 2 free throws with 4.4 seconds left and the Vikings’ defense didn’t let BG get past half court as time expired.
“A little too close for comfort,” said Gray, who scored 12 points, with 7 free throws and a 3-pointer. “Coach kept talking to us about getting stops but Buffalo Grove definitely played its heart out. They kept coming at us.”
A free throw by senior Megan Horn (4 points) put Fremd ahead 18-13 in the second quarter, but BG senior KC Dunne got her team right back in the game.
First, the 5-foot-7 guard hit a layup off an inbounds pass from Georgoulis, then Dunne made a steal near half court and took it in for a layup.
A 3-pointer by Wiedemann (9 point) gave Fremd a 26-21 lead before Andrea DiPrima (9 points) drove for a soft bank shot at the halftime buzzer to bring BG to within 26-23.
“We had a chance at the end, we gave it our all,” said Dunne who led the Bison with 12 points before fouling out with 2:42 left in the game.
“Our team did a 180 from our 1-8 start. We literally came together at the Dundee-Crown tournament. We started playing as a team, not individuals and we started believing in ourselves.”
Cho finished with 8 points before fouling out. Georgoulis and Bailey North (9 points) finished the game with 4 fouls apiece.
“I thought we fouled too much and Fremd took advantage,” said Bison coach Pat Dudle. “The girls battled all season. I could not be prouder of them.
“They persevered. We started the season slow and then they came back and put Buffalo Grove into prominence in the Mid-Suburban League. Our seniors have been outstanding and hopefully our younger players can carry the torch into next season.”
Kubis added 7 points and helped create turnovers with her defense.
“I thought we wore them down defensively and that helped get them into foul trouble,” Yates said. “We knew they shot 3s very well and I thought we did a good job limiting them to good looks on those.”
Now the Vikes are looking forward to the sectional.
“We can celebrate now and get back to business (today),” Gray said. “I can’t ask for a better group of girls to win my first regional, that’s for sure.”