Rolling Meadows outscores Wheaton North with 95-point effort

The Rolling Meadows offense outdid itself Monday night.

Averaging nearly 73 points per game, the Mustangs fell just 5 points shy of 100 while racing up and down the court to a 95-72 victory over visiting Wheaton North.

The defending Mid-Suburban League champs led 46-42 at intermission and finished the nonconference girls basketball game by breaking their previous season-high of 85 points against Lakes.

Junior Jenny Vliet, who had 1 3-pointer in the first 16 minutes, scored 12 of the Mustangs’ first 14 points of the second half as they pulled away to a 73-55 lead after three quarters.

“That was crazy,” Vliet said after scoring 27 points with 5 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. “We’ve put up some crazy numbers this season but this was definitely the most. The large part of it is my teammates looking for the extra pass. Jackie (Kemph) and Alexis (Glasgow) made some nice passes. It was one of the most unselfish games we’ve played all season.”

Kemph ended up with 20 points, 16 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals while Glasgow had 13 points (3 3-pointers), 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

They found forwards Morgan Keller (14 points, 6 rebounds) and Ashley Montanez (10 points) numerous times.

“It was probably, more than ever, a game where we shared the basketball exceptionally well,” said Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky, whose team improved to 11-0. “The biggest thing is that when we show commitment on the defensive end, that makes our transition game much better.”

Wheaton North coach David Eaton doesn’t know if he’s seen a better offensive team in his 10 seasons.

“That was worth the price of admission, huh?” said Eaton after the crowd-pleasing basketball for 32 minutes with at least five Division I college coaches in attendance.

“They (Meadows) are good, really good,” he added. “And they shoot the ball better than anyone I’ve seen in a long time.

“They have three really good scorers. But with their four, five and six players, they do a great job sharing the basketball. They’re probably the most compete team I’ve seen in my 10 years.”

Eaton’s offense wasn’t so bad itself, breaking the 70-point mark for the fourth time this season.

Senior guard Mandy Traversa (6 3-pointers) led the way with 25 points, followed by sophomore Kelly Thornton (16 points), junior Chrissy Baird (11) and senior Reilly Stewart (11).

“They are not what I expected,” Traversa said. “I knew they were good, but they don’t miss. They shot lights-out, and that gave us trouble.”

The Falcons (6-3) played without two starters — junior Cassidy Graham (knee) and senior Brittany Norris (tooth infection), who Eaton said can each score between 8 to 10 points per game.

“Obviously, Mandy played really well putting up 24 points,” Eaton said. “Kelly Thornton, who usually comes off the bench, did a nice job starting and I thought Brooke Schanowski (senior guard) did a pretty good job defending even though we didn’t play great defense overall.”

Eaton said second-half foul trouble made it tough to match up with Vliet.

“We had to put our posts on her and she is just too good of a shooter,” Eaton said.

Kemph said it was one of the most exciting games she’s played.

“That was exciting,” said Kemph, whose sister Allie had a coast-to-coast layup for 2 of her 4 points. “They like to run, We like to run. It was pretty awesome.”

Kirkorsky said he had a feeling the points could pile up Monday.

“Obviously, we want to play a certain style up and down the court,” he said. “And I kind of had a sense they wanted to play the same way because I’ve seen them the last few years. I knew the first two minutes that it was going to be that type of game.”