On the road again, Fremd racks up another victory

At this rate, maybe Fremd's girls basketball team won't want to return home.

After hosting Evanston in their first game of the season (45-29 loss), the Vikings have been on the road ever since and are not scheduled to play at home again until Jan. 8 against Rolling Meadows.

Playing in different gymnasiums, though, hasn't been so bad for coach Dave Yates' Vikings.

They won Saturday for the third time in four games and improved to 2-0 in the Mid-Suburban West with a 55-44 victory at Hoffman Estates.

With a wresting meet taking place in the main gym, the game was played as the first varsity contest held in a new gym on the north end of the school building.

"We are the 'road warriors,' that's our new name," said a smiling Taylor Glassman, the Vikings sophomore guard who helped slice through the Hawks' pressing defense while also scoring a team-high 17 points.

"I think being on the road just makes you more focused. You know the other team wants to really give it to you in their place, but you want to show them what you have."

What the Vikings had was a lot of depth as Yates went 10 deep most of the contest.

Sophomore Sam Thelin added 13 points for the winners (4-5, 2-0), hitting 8 of 8 free throws.

Seniors Dani Videka and Kaitlin Jones each chipped in 6 points.

The Vikings made 24 of 29 free throws, including 12 in the final two minutes.

"This was huge because we wanted to start out 2-0 in the conference," Glassman said.

Vikeda's steal and layup gave Fremd a 34-22 lead with 4:52 left in the third quarter.

But Hoffman (6-3, 1-1) rallied with a 12-0 run, tying the game at 34-34 when junior Megan Fischer (game-high 23 points) made a nice move for a bank shot with 35 seconds left in the third quarter.

The game was tied three more times before Fremd took the lead for good at 41-40 on Videka's free throw.

Moments later, she got a nice pass from sophomore Lauren Zaworski for a 43-40 lead.

Thelin hit 4 consecutive free throws as the Vikings took control down the stretch.

"We knew Hoffman would come back, Mike (Nocella) is a very good coach," Yates said. " "I thought we came out very focused in the first half. Our kids knew this was a big game to go 2-0 in the conference."

Videka's floor time is being extended as she recovers from a torn ACL (she had surgery in March).

"She's getting back into the flow," Yates said. "I thought Lauren Zaworski did a very nice job on Fischer.

"We've been playing good defense. And our depth is part of the deal. We want to wear people down."

Nocella would have agreed Saturday.

"I think we got extended trying to get back into the game from that deficit (34-22) and then we lost some gas," Nocella said. "We started to make mistakes from being tired and we started reaching."

Melissa Douglass added 6 points for Hoffman while Alexandra Wulbecker and Megan Bernardoni each chipped in 4.

"I think we got a little tired at the end," Wulbecker said. "We fouled too much. Then they made their free throws, That's what killed us."

"I thought Fremd did a good job taking us out of our offense," Nocella added. "A lot of our points came on transition and steals."

Elk Grove 61, Addison Trail 50: As a freshman shortstop in softball last season, Olivia Roback collected her share of assists while throwing out runners at first base.

She gets the assists in basketball, too.

The Grenadiers sophomore guarded handed out 8 to help lead her team to its seventh win in 10 games. Roback also had 3 steals and 2 points.

"Olivia had a great floor game," said Elk Grove coach Jim Wills. "A lot of them came in the half-court offense breaking down the defense. A few were in transition."

Top scorer for the host Grenadiers was sophomore Ashley Capotosto with a game-high 26 points. The 6-foot sophomore also grabbed 5 rebounds.

Freshmen Leah Miller and Maggie Fries (4 assists) each added 10 points. Teammate Kayla Mahoney chipped in 6 points and 6 rebounds.

St. Viator 55, Providence 52 (OT): Visiting St. Viator (2-7, 1-1) outscored Providence 11-6 in overtime in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

Junior Kelly Hendricks made 4 free throws in the extra session, while Colleen Nolan, Mary Calov and Jenny Muench each had 2. Muench also had a bucket.

Leading the Lions' balanced scoring attack were Muench (12 points), Nolan (11) Hendricks (10), Calov (9) and Tori Callero (7).

Stevenson 47, Palatine 37:ΠHost Palatine (2-8) was led by Katie MacFabe's 17 points.

Teammate Jessica Ritsche added 6 points and Heather Zimmerman had 5.