Maine West, St. Viator advance; Fremd falls

Maine West's girls basketball team rolled into the Class 4A sectional semifinals by defeating regional host Glenbrook South 55-39 on Thursday.

Rachel Kent led the Warriors with 16 points. Angela Dugalic had 14, and Allison Pearson finished with 11. Those same three were big in other ways, as Kent had 4 steals, Dugalic had 6 rebounds and Pearson had 4 steals.

Maine West led by just 2 points entering the fourth quarter, when it pulled away with a 21-point finish.

Maine West, the top sectional seed, will meet No. 5 New Trier in a 6 p.m. Monday sectional semifinal at Maine East.

In the 7:30 p.m. game at the same site, it will be No. 3 Loyola vs. No. 7 Maine South, which upset No. 2 Proviso East on Thursday.

Loyola, the No. 3 seed, advanced by topping No. 6 Evanston 47-31 and Maine South edged Proviso East 48-45.

St. Viator 57, Wauconda 29: Senior Olivia Solimene scored a game-high 16 points and classmate Myia Clark had 15 to help the Lions power past regional host Wauconda in Class 3A.

Solimene also had 4 boards and 3 assists, Clark contributed 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal while Bridget DeZellar (9 points) and Katie Krzoska (6) provided more scoring.

Clark's scoring effort put her in the all-time lead for Lions scoring, surpassing the career total of Ore Arogundade in the boys program.

St. Viator (20-9), the top seed in the Woodstock North sectional, advances to a 6 p.m. Tuesday semifinal against either Resurrection or Johnsburg, who play at 7 p.m. Friday in the Ridgewood regional final.

The other sectional semi, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, will feature No. 7 seed Lakes, which upset No. 2 Vernon Hills, and No. 6 seed Carmel Catholic, which topped Marian Central Catholic 52-47.

Wauconda wraps up its season with a 14-14 record.

"We knew we had to play our best game to have a chance, and we were far from it," said Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis "Too many mental mistakes, and a good team like Viator will take advantage.

"I am proud of the girls. They played hard - there were just too many obstacles to overcome."

The game was not without a bright spot for Wauconda, as Allie Tylka finished with a team-high 12 points and reached the 1,000-point career scoring milestone.

"She is a great kid and the best player I have had the pleasure of coaching - and the best part is she is only a junior," Dennis said.

Tylka and Maddie Carver both advanced in the 3-point shootout.

Grayslake Central 31, Fremd 29: It was quite an ending to the Class 4A regional final at Zion-Benton.

No. 4 seeded Fremd led No. 5 Grayslake Central 29-28 with 1:03 left in the game.

An illegal screen call on Fremd gave the ball back to the Rams, who answered with a layup by Rose Dreveline to take a 30-29 lead.

Fremd was fouled on the next possession and missed the front end of the one and one and was whistled for a foul chasing down the missed shot.

Leading by 1 with 26.5 seconds, the Ram were called for traveling while trying to solve Fremd's press.

Fremd was then called on a charging foul on the next possession following a made layup.

Fremd again forced a turnover with 9.3 seconds left in the game and still trailing by 1.

On the next baseline out-of-bounds play, the Vikings missed a layup with four seconds left.

Payton Gosell made 1 of 2 free throws to put Central up 31-29, and Fremd missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer on the last play.

"I was very proud of our team's effort," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "We battled for a full 32 minutes and unfortunately, things did not fall our way down the stretch. We had some things go our way on Tuesday (in a 38-35 win over Wheeling) to extend our season, and unfortunately those same breaks did not occur tonight."

Freshman Ruthie Montella led the Vikings (18-13) with 10 points and Angie Zara had 7. Emily Klaczek and Olivia Hill each had 5 points with a 3-pointer.

"These girls battled to the buzzer and that is all we can ask," Yates said. "I thought we played excellent defense - unfortunately, so did they and we couldn't get things to go our way to finish the game."

The Rams advance to a 6 p.m. Monday sectional semifinal matchup against No. 1 Warren, a 63-41 winner against Prospect.

Yates credited Grayslake Central, which was led by Kate Bullman (10 points, 5 rebounds) and Gosell (9 points, 5 rebounds).

"They made just enough plays down the stretch to come out on the winning side," he said. "We had our chances. Our girls should be very proud of the season they had. They won 18 games despite being one of the youngest teams in the state. They were oh so close to winning the league again and another regional championship. It makes you appreciate how hard those are to come by and will help keep us motivated in the future. These girls came a long way and were a joy to coach. The future is extremely bright for this group."

The Vikes graduate seniors Colleen Kennedy, Alyssa Honickel and Danielle Lovelace.

"This group needed leadership desperately with such a young group," Yates said. "Our seniors did so many things that will never show up in a box score to help this team have a great season. I have worked with these seniors since they were in fifth-grade feeder. They are selfless girls who only wanted the best for the team. They will be missed."