Buffalo Grove grabs East lead by stopping Rolling Meadows

With more than half of the final quarter to play, Buffalo Grove's girls basketball team would not get any more points from Sammy Stejskal, who had scored 17 to that point.

With 4:31 left, the talented senior guard picked up her fifth foul.

But the rest of the Bison picked her up.

A driving 6-footer by Georgette Topalis and free throws from Amanda Kowalski (2), Alyssa Floro (2) and Maddie Welter (1) in the final 2:33 were enough for the Bison to hold off host Rolling Meadows 51-43 in Saturday's Mid-Suburban East first-place showdown.

"As coaches, we talk to the kids all the time about being ready for the opportunity," said Bison coach Steve Kolodziej. "We know that Sammy and Maddie are our floor leaders but it's only a matter of time that we could be in this type of situation without one of them.

"Today it happened and we had all the confidence in the world that these kids would hold things together."

The group effort allowed BG to take hold of first place in the East with a 4-0 record, one game better than Hersey (15-3, 3-1) and Rolling Meadows (12-6, 3-0).

Stejskal scored 15 points in the first half as the Bison raced to a 30-16 advantage at intermission.

But Meadows started the third quarter with an 11-2 run to get right back into the contest.

A 3-point play by junior Morgan Campagna started the rally that continued with 8 straight points from classmate Katherine Nolan.

RM got to within 41-35 after three quarters and Campagna started the fourth with a lean-in bank shot to cut the deficit to 4 points.

With 6:18 left, Kelsey Nallon's 3-pointer drew Meadows to within 44-41.

But BG was relentless down the stretch and never let Meadows closer.

"We made a lot of clutch free throws," Stejskal said. "It was a huge step forward for us to win this game. It was really important for conference."

Also reaching double figures for BG was senior Natalie Dimitrova (10 points).

"We've really been working a lot on offense the last few weeks in practice," Dimitrova said. "I think that really helped us this game."

Other offensive contributions came from Floro (5 points), Topalis (5 points), Welter (4) and Megan Gamber (3).

"I was kind of nervous when she (Stejskal) went out but we had a lot of people step up and make big plays for us," Welter said. "It was a huge game for us. We really needed to win it."

Among those stepping up were Floros, Kaela Drum and Gamber.

"Megan gave us gave us huge minutes," Kolodziej said. "She is the type of kid who gives everything she has all the time."

Leading the Mustangs' offense were Campagna (14 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal), Nolan (13 points, 5 rebounds), Kyra Spiwak (8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal), and Nallon (6 points, two 3-pointers, 3 rebounds).

"It is real difficult against a good team to dig out of that big of a hole," said Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "We definitely had opportunities in the fourth quarter but credit Buffalo Grove for closing out the game."

"You've got to give credit to Meadows," Kolodziej added. "They came back and punched us in the mouth to start the third quarter. Ryan (Kirkorsky) does a great job and it became two great teams battling to the end."

It ended with the Bison holding the one-game lead in the East.

"This was an opportunity to contend for the East," Kolodziej said. "And now we are. But there is still along way to go."