BG has Grayslake C.'s number

Heather Nisbet was wearing a new number.

Allison Mocchi was wearing a black-and-blue mark that almost looked a tatoo on her right arm.

While the two Buffalo Grove guards had a little different look, the highly-ranked Buffalo Grove girls basketball team brought pretty much the same appearance to the floor Thursday night.

Its fast-paced, up-tempo running game proved too much for Grayslake Central as the defending Mid-Suburban League champs posted a 55-35 season-opening victory at Barrington High School as part of the Bison Thanksgiving tourney.

Allison and twin sister Maggie Mocchi celebrated their 18th birthdays.

"I was super excited today," said Allison, whose bruised upper arm was the result of some hard-nosed play in practice. "People thought it was because it was our birthday, but it was really because it was our first game."

"Great birthday present," said Maggie Mocchi (15 points). "It makes our birthday ten times better."

Senior Ellen Ayoub scored a game-high 18 points, 16 in the second half to pace the Bison offense, which also received 13 points from Nisbet.

The 5-foot-5 sophomore guard was sporting jersey No. 14, previously worn by four-time all-area selection Rachel Buchek, who graduated last year.

"Fourteen was always my favorite number," Nisbet said with a smile. "But I knew I wasn't going to be able to have it last year."

The Bison jumped ahead 17-3 and their lead was never seriously threatened.

Bison coach Tom Dineen played 11 girls, using various rotations.

"We made a few mistakes here and there, some were first-game jitters," he said. "But you expect those things. There were more good things than bad."

Kaitlin Hill and Katie Lee also contributed points for BG, which swings back into action for its home opener Saturday at 3 p.m. against Barrington in Round 2 of the Bison Classic.

BG led 39-28 with 2:13 left in the third quarter and proceeded to go on a 12-0 run (Ayoub had half the points with a pair of 3-pointers) to put the game out of reach.

Schaumburg 64, St. Charles East 32: Once Schaumburg's offense got moving, it was clear where the game was going.

The host Saxons ended the first quarter with a 16-2 run on their way to a 64-32 win in the second round of 19th annual Schaumburg Thanksgiving tournament.

In the first half, senior Gabrielle Blackwell was solid and scored all of her 15 points.

"I think we went in pretty confident," Blackwell said. "We talked about moving the ball and after a few passes, we were able to find the open person."

Blackwell's enthusiasm for the game is obvious.

"I have a lot of fun," added Blackwell, who obviously enjoys her time on the court. "It's my senior year so I figure I'll go all out and be goofy with it."

Drewann Pancratz scored a game-high 16 points while teammate Kylie Castans sunk four 3-pointers for 12 points.

"It's a nice start," said Schaumburg coach Bill Murmann, whose team is 2-0. "I'm glad because we had an opportunity to play 11 kids and they all got quality time. Sarah McGinn coming off the bench stepped up big time."

McGinn scored all 10 of her points in the second half.

While the Saxons' offense was running, their defense was just as strong.

"It was nice from the standpoint that we got to work on five different defenses," Murmann said. "It's still November, we're still raw. We're not where we need to be in February."

For the Saints, the game was quality time against a quality team.

"We knew Schaumburg was a really talented team," said St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra. "We're working our way to that. We have a lot of young players. We're still learning to play together.

"I felt like we battled every single minute of the game. I was (pleased) with our effort tonight. We just got beat by a better team. I'm not disappointed because I knew it was going to be an uphill battle."

-- Bill Swick

Hoffman Estates 54, South Elgin 50: For the first four minutes of the third quarter Thursday night, the scenario was all too familiar for the Hoffman Estates girls basketball team.

Multiple times last season, the Hawks found themselves jumping out to early leads only to lose in the end.

However, Hawks junior standout forward Megan Fischer and her teammates were not content to live in the past.

Thanks to Fischer's timely 9-for-10 free-throw shooting and several points off the fast break, the Hawks were able to stave off a late run by the South Elgin Storm and hold on for a 54-50 win in their second game of the Fenton tournament.

"Last year we would get big leads and let them go," Fischer said. "This year we're trying to maintain our leads.

"Basketball is a game of runs so if they get hot we are going to try and stay with them and if we get behind we try and battle back."

Fischer, who had a team-high 21 points in addition to 6 rebounds, led the Hawks' attack from the get-go.

"(Fischer) is a gamer," said coach Mike Nocella after his first win at Hoffman Estates following a distinguished career at Prospect.

Trailing by 4 after the first quarter, South Elgin bounced back to within 2 points at the half thanks to consistent shooting from its guard tandem of Alexa Kruel (20 points) and Genevieve Johnson (9 points).

The Storm opened the second half energized from their second-quarter comeback and went on an 11-4 run to start the third, taking their first lead at 35-30.

"We wanted to attack the basket and be aggressive," South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast said. "We didn't turn the ball over as much in the second half."

Facing its first deficit of the game, Hoffman did not panic and instead closed out the third ahead by 2 points after an impressive 9-2 run highlighted by fastbreak points from Fischer and Jada Stotts (10 points, 4 rebounds).

In the fourth, junior point guard Carole King (17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals) kept the Storm on their heels with her tenacious defense, ultimately preventing a late rally.

"My team works together and knows what tempo we want to establish throughout the game," King said.

Hoffman improved to 2-0 but Nocella understands it is still early in the season.

"We need to take one game at a time," Nocella said. "We have Lake Park next, which is going to be an even tougher game for us."

-- Dan Hyman

Maine South 62, Barrington 33: Barrington dropped its season opener 62-33 on its home floor in the Bison Classic.

The Fillies were led by sophomore Emily Harris' 13 points and 5 rebounds while freshman Shelby Whigham chipped in 10 points.

"We had two freshmen (Whigham and Sarah Mass) and a sophomore (Harris) who played most of the game," said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. "I thought our underclassmen did well."

Senior forward Samantha Beach, who returns this season with the most varsity floor time for Fillies, will miss at least two weeks with a sprained ankle suffered in preseason practice.

"Without Samantha, we don't have a lot of varsity experience on the floor," Barrerio added. "We'll take our lumps until the kids get a little more experience but the future is bright."

Lake Park 80, Elk Grove 47: Samantha Arnold is playing confidently and assertively, and so are her Lake Park teammates.

That spelled trouble for Elk Grove.

Following Arnold's lead, Lake Park put on an offensive clinic during its 80-47 girls basketball romp over the host Grenadiers in the Elk Grove/Fenton/Lake Park Thanksgiving Tournament.

Arnold, a smooth 6-foot-4 junior forward, racked up 23 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks while playing less than three quarters.

"She's way more confident," Lake Park coach Lisa Smith said. "She's grown up. She's an all-around package. She's a leader and everyone follows."

"I know a lot of girls look up to me when I'm on the court," Arnold said. "I never wanted to be the person who always has the ball and everything, but I know coach Smith is always telling me I need to shoot when I'm open because it's going to hurt our team if I don't do that. That's what I try to do."

Sophomore guard Carly Willert and junior guard Adrienne Ryba tacked on 10 points apiece for Lake Park.

Ball movement was the name of the game for the Lancers. They recorded assists on 26 of their 37 fields goals while shooting 56 percent from the field.

Elk Grove held a 16-15 edge before Lake Park took off on a 10-0 run in the final 2:02 of the first quarter to pull ahead 25-16.

The Lancers held a 44-33 advantage at the half.

Elk Grove did its best to keep up with Lake Park by shooting 70 percent from the field in the first half as it made 14 of its 20 shots from the field.

But the Grens negated their hot shooting by committing 21 turnovers in the first half and 35 for the game.

"We shot ourselves in the foot with silly turnovers," Elk Grove coach Jim Wills said. "We were able to break the press, I thought, pretty well, and then once we got across halfcourt, we were helter skelter at times.

"We showed our age a little today," continued Wills, who started four sophomores, "but I'm not going to fault the effort. We've got work to do defensively, obviously. We let these guys score too many points on us."

The Lancers scored the first 6 points in the third quarter on the way to outscoring Elk Grove 36-14 in the second half.

Sophomore center Ashley Capotosto posted team-highs of 19 points and 7 rebounds for the Grens.

Lake Park is now 2-0 and Elk Grove 1-1 in the five-game round-robin tourney.

-- Dave Miller