Cougars pull away from Fillies in 2nd half
Conant's girls basketball team improved to 9-1 and 3-0 in the Mid-Suburban West Tuesday night with a 47-30 victory over visiting Barrington.
But the Cougars hardly have time to kick back and enjoy one of their best starts in years.
They have conference games with Fremd on Thursday and Hoffman Estates on Saturday.
"It's a very exciting week for us," said Cougars senior forward Michelle Rawleigh, who scored a game-high 17 points (one 3-pointer with 8 rebounds). "We are going to have played five conference games by the end of the week. It's great opportunity for us. We're hoping to make the most of it."
The Cougars made the most of their defense in the second half as they did not allow the visitors a basket in the final 11:42 of the game.
From that point, the Cougars outscored the Fillies 16-4, giving up only 2 free throws in the final quarter by sophomore Emily Harris with 12.9 seconds left.
"We were more aware of help-side defense," Rawleigh added. "Out team defense pulled through."
Emma Loos, who grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast for layup during the Cougars' late flourish, finished with 10 points and 6 steals.
Ariana Zades added 9 for the winners, while Noreen Davis, Danielle Ladehoff and Lisa Parisi all chipped in points as well.
"The girls just pride themselves on playing hard and smart," said Cougars coach Dan Travers. "We told them at half, they weren't playing to their potential. We told them to go down fighting."
Barrington (2-8, 0-3) led by as much as 16-8 in the first half and was down only 23-22 at intermission.
Fillies freshman Shelby Whigham scored all 8 of her points in the first half while Jenny Schnack added 5.
Samantha Beach saw her first action of the season returning from an ankle injury suffered in preseason practice. The senior drove to the basket for a nice bank shot for her first points with 20 seconds left in the first period.
"Conant played hard the whole game," said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. "We played well the first half, but terrible in the second. In the Mid-Suburban League, you have to show up to compete the whole game. It's that simple.
"We gave Conant too many easy looks in the second half. This is a good lesson for our younger players and whole team."
The left-handed Rawleigh's 17-footer from the baseline gave Conant its first lead at 21-20 with 25 seconds left in the first half.
"Our last game with Barrington (won 34-25 two weeks ago) was still fresh in our minds," Rawleigh said. "So I think that helped in that we still remember the things they did. Our team is really close. We have seven seniors and our goal is to make it our best season in four years."
Elk Grove 72, Maine East 44: Sophomore Ashley Capotosto scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 6 rebounds as the host Grenadiers improved to 8-3 in the nonconference game.
Olivia Roback added 10 points, 11 assists and 8 steals while Kayla Mahoney also had 10 points.
Melissa Regan collected 9 points and Maggie Fries had 8 points and 8 rebounds.