Conant 33, Fremd 18
During the first half, Conant girls basketball coach Dan Travers kept stressing defense.
"He just talked about defense and telling us how we haven't had a perfect game yet," said Cougars senior guard Ariana Zades.
The Cougars may not have been perfect Friday night, but they sure were very good.
Limiting host Fremd to just 4 points the first three quarters -- with second- and third-quarter shutouts -- the Cougars earned a 33-18 triumph to claim a co-championship with Schaumburg in the Mid-Suburban West.
The Cougars (21-5) and Saxons (24-4) finished at 8-2.
Schaumburg will represent the West in next Wednesday's MSL title game with its two wins over Conant.
"We wanted to be West champs but we'll take co-champs," said Zades, who led Conant with 11 points and 4 rebounds.
"It was a lot better than we expected and great for our senior year," added Cougars senior forward Michelle Rawleigh (8 points, 2 rebounds). "To finish like this is something we'll always remember."
Fremd (14-10, 7-3) will remember its fine season, too, after going 3-7 last year to missing a conference co-title by just one game.
"A couple of years ago when I first came on the varsity I never thought we'd be competing for a conference title," said Fremd forward Dani Videka (team-high 6 points). "I'm so proud of what we've done.
"We played good defense. The shots we usually make just weren't falling."
Zades got a 14-footer and layup to fall in the first quarter while Emma Loos and Rawleigh added layups to give Conant a 9-4 lead.
The Cougars led 15-4 at the break, getting two second- quarter bank shots from Rawleigh and a 16-footer from Danielle Ladehoff.
In the second half, the Cougars scored 18 points with Zades accounting for half of them.
"Our offense was pretty good in the second half," Zades added. "We were handling their switching defense pretty well."
Before the game, Videka and teammates Tracey Nachtsheim, Melissa Castles, Kaitlin Jones, Kelly Oswald and Hannah Devine were honored for Senior's Night.
"That group did a great job," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "They've seen the high and lows the last few years. They showed our whole team that if you put in hard work and dedication, you can accomplish a lot of good things."
Lisa Parisi collected 5 rebounds and 5 steals for Conant, which hosts East co-champ Buffalo Grove on Tuesday.
"Obviously, we could have hit more shots," Yates added. "But hats off to Conant and credit Dan (Travers, coach) and his girls. They did a very nice job taking us out of the things we like to do."
Travers took the Cougars from 3-7 last year to their first shared title since 1998.
"We knew Fremd has been playing very well and had beaten some good teams," Travers said. "I think our kids wanted to prove something from Tuesday night (60-40 loss at Schaumburg). They have responded well all season and they did again this game. We had a really good practice Thursday and we expected the kids to compete this game."
They competed like champs and got an MSL West co-championship.