Schaumburg 63, Fremd 35

After Schaumburg senior Gabrielle Blackwell sank a layup late in the first half of a 63-35 win over visiting Fremd, she heard coach Bill Murmann call her to the sideline.

"I thought I was in trouble," said Blackwell, laughing. "I was wondering why he was yelling -- I made the layup."

But Murmann wasn't about to reprimand Blackwell -- just the opposite.

Play was stopped so Blackwell, who has been accepted to attend the University of Chicago, could be presented with the game ball in honor of her 1,000th career point.

"It was so exciting," said the senior, who finished the game with 9 points and 8 rebounds. "I honestly didn't know I was that close."

Murmann was also honored prior to the contest, commemorating his 200th coaching win, which came Tuesday night against New Trier.

But the coach downplayed the significance, preferring to talk about his undefeated and Mid-Suburban West leading squad.

"That's 1,000 for Gabby," said Murmann, "and Kylie (Castans) is over 1,100. Next will be Drewann (Pancratz)."

It was senior Castans who took the game over after halftime.

The Saxons (12-0, 4-0) were sluggish in the first quarter, but much of that was due to a tenacious Fremd (5-7, 2-2) defense.

The Vikings led 10-8 after senior Kaitlin Jones hit 2 free throws, but the Saxons scored 24 in the second quarter to take a 32-21 lead at the break.

"They got a lot of easy baskets," said Fremd coach Dave Yates, "in the last couple minutes of the first half. We didn't get back and boom, were down by 8-10 points.

"They're a great shooting team. We had hands in their face, but they kept knocking them down."

Especially Castans, who scored 15 of her game-high 24 points in the third, including 3 of her four 3-pointers.

"After I hit the first shot," Castans said, "I felt like I was in the flow."

Senior guard Tracey Nachtsheim led the Vikings with 9 points while sophomore Taylor Glassman contributed with 7.

Pancratz (8 points) and Sarah Kellermeyer (6) pitched in for the home team.

"Coach Yates does a great job," said Murmann of his counterpart. "You know they're going to play hard.

"They took us out of a little of what we wanted to do in the first quarter. They played good defense, and that motivated us to play good defense, and a lot of our offense sprung from that."