Grens grow up down stretch

Elk Grove decided to make some growing gains rather than pains Thursday night.

The Grenadiers saw a 9-point third-quarter lead turned to a 2-point deficit to visiting Hersey with 5:24 to play in their Mid-Suburban East girls basketball game.

And Hersey had finally found a way to slow Elk Grove 6-foot sophomore Ashley Capotosto inside.

But a tiebreaking 3-pointer by Kayla Mahoney, the only senior on the Grenadiers' roster, sparked a 10-point run and a 53-45 victory.

"Today we really grew up a lot," Mahoney said after putting the Grens up 45-42 with 3:37 left. "In the fourth quarter when it was tied we started making some good decisions."

For the first 2½ quarters the best choice was to find Capotosto, who hit her first 9 shots to push the Grens (9-3, 2-1) to a 32-23 lead.

Capotosto scored 23 points on 10-for-12 from the field and had a season-high 18 rebounds.

"Everything was just going really well at the beginning of the game," Capotosto said. "We needed to win this one because we needed to go 2-1 in conference."

Hersey (3-7, 1-2) switched to a 2-3 zone out of a timeout with 3½ minutes left in the third to contain Capotosto.

Kelly Rogowski (17 points, 6 rebounds), Maggie Tunney, Megan Rogowski and Emma Kuhns (9 rebounds) led a rally to a 40-38 lead with 5:24 to play.

"We went on a nice little run there -- our offense was very uninspired," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley after her team shot 28 percent (16-for-57) from the field. "We had some moments but I'd say for most of the 32 minutes they outplayed us."

Hersey tied it at 42-42 on Kelly Rogowski's drive off a miss but Mahoney answered from the left corner off a Kristy Ottosen feed.

"I just wanted to make sure I could hit at least one 3 today," Mahoney said of missing her first 5 attempts behind the arc. "My shot was off but I knew we needed it."

Ottosen (10 points) also had a pair of 3-point play layups off Capotosto and Mahoney assists.

Sophomore Olivia Roback, who had her usual solid floor game and held Hersey scoring leader Sarah Stoltzner to 2 points on 0-for-6 from the field, added a free throw as the Grens led 52-42 at 1:31.

"Everybody stepped up when we needed it," Capotosto said as the Grens matched their East victory total of last year.

"We keep on preaching that other people have to step up," said Elk Grove coach Jim Wills, "because 'Capo' is going to dish it to you.

"We're going to try to use this as a catalyst."