Fremd 41, Palatine 36

Resilient is just one of many terms that could describe Fremd's performance Friday night at Palatine.

David Yates and his Viking girls basketball team, despite falling behind by 4 in the fourth, fought off a Pirates comeback and prevailed over their conference rivals 41-36.

"Any time you are in a rivalry game, it's going to be close and it's going to be back and forth," said Yates. "I was very pleased with how we kept our composure."

The Vikings got excellent production off the bench from senior guard Tracey Nachtsheim, who led all Viking scorers with 9 points Friday evening.

"I have nothing to lose out there," Nachtsheim said. "I'm just trying to work my way up (the depth chart), score when I can, and play good defense."

Despite the fact that Nachtsheim did not start Friday night, Yates couldn't have been happier with her performance.

"Tracey could easily be a starter," Yates said. "She gives us an offensive weapon and does a lot of other things well."

Key to the Vikings' victory was their ability to get Palatine's leading scorer, Katie MacFabe (8 points, 11 rebounds) into foul trouble early on.

Coming off a career performance against Hersey, the Vikings knew MacFabe would pose mismatches and create problems underneath the basket.

"We've been looking at (Palatine's) stats and we could see she was probably going to score a lot," Nachtsheim said. "Getting her in foul trouble was huge."

Palatine kept it close throughout, thanks in large part to a 9-3 run to end the third quarter. The Pirates, though, could not got defensive stops down the stretch, leaving coach Ron Theberge searching for answers.

"We need to slow down and take our time," Theberge said. "I'm trying to find five girls that can play both ends of the court. That's my job, and we need to take care of it."