Wrap: Wildcats, Saxons set to clash

The previous 80 days were a journey filled with accomplishments too long to list.

From Bianca Szafarowicz's remarkable second-quarter performance at Elk Grove last month to Janelle Cannon's triple-double last Monday. From Illinois-bound Lana Rukavina scoring her 1,000th career point on Opening Night to Purdue recruit Ashley Wilson joining that exclusive club on Dec. 21.

The Wildcats celebrated a tournament title at the Blue Devil Classic, as well as memorable wins against Fenwick and Montini. But it was a 57-49 victory eight days ago against conference rival Buffalo Grove that gave them control of their division destiny.

After a 40-point win on Tuesday, the Wheeling express rolled into Rolling Meadows on Friday, scoring the first 29 points en route to a runaway 58-34 win.

Next stop: the program's first trip to the Mid-Suburban League title game.

"We've had two goals the last couple of years -- to win conference and qualify for the state tournament," said Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel, who has led the Wildcats to at least 20 wins in each of her four seasons. "We feel like we're going in the right direction."

With 9-1 records in the MSL East, Wheeling (24-3) and BG (25-3), a 76-40 winner against Prospect on Friday, share the divisional crown.

But with both squads winning all their division games by at least 7 points and with BG playing in the MSL title game last season, the tiebreaker gives Wheeling the nod to represent the East.

And when they arrive next Wednesday night at Schaumburg (24-4, 8-2), the Wildcats will be facing the team that last defeated them.

Senior Drewann Pancratz nailed a buzzer-beater on Jan. 8 as the Saxons served the Wildcats a 54-52 setback.

"We know we should have won that game," said Wilson, who scored 10 of her game-high 17 points in the first half on Friday. "We're going to come out and play hard."

Junior Maddy Urban led the Mustangs (6-19, 0-10) with 11 points.

"We played tentatively at first, we were a little in awe of their talent," said Meadows coach Patrick O'Connell. "I was pleased at how our team, after they got over that initial shock of being a little bit intimidated, we decided to go in and bang with them."

Schaumburg 68, Palatine 31: Coach Bill Murmann has the utmost faith in his Schaumburg basketball team.

So much so that Murmann had no hesitation playing every player on his roster Friday night, despite the fact an MSL West title and conference championship game berth was on the line.

However, when every member of your team scores in a game, it's an easy decision for a coach to make.

With its depth on full display Friday night, Schaumburg cruised to a 68-31 victory at Palatine (8-20, 1-9), clinching a share of the MSL West title and a trip to the league championship game next Wednesday night against Wheeling.

"This is an excellent basketball conference," Murmann said of the MSL West. "(Winning conference) was one of our goals from the beginning of the season. We had a few stumbles along the way, but we closed it out tonight."

While the inside play of Pirates center Katie MacFabe (13 points, 7 rebounds) caused problems early for the Saxons, Schaumburg (24-4, 8-2) responded with an 18-point run that lasted over eight minutes, giving them a comfortable 32-15 lead at the break.

The Saxons were able to utilize the inside presence of 6-foot-4 senior center Gryte Satas. She had a team-high 10 points in the first half with 5 rebounds.

"I think (Palatine) came out and really wanted to focus on Kylie (Castans) and Gabby (Blackwell) defensively, so I was able to get the ball down low," Satas said.

Castans, a consistent scoring threat for Schaumburg, made her presence felt in the second half as she put on quite a shooting display. The senior forward knocked down three 3-pointers en route to a team-high 16 points.

"We knew we had to win this game to get to our ultimate goals and I think we responded well," Castans said.

The Schaumburg bench scored 27 points Friday night.

Junior forwards Sarah McGinn and Sarah Kellermeyer both added 6 points off the bench.

"All 11 girls on this team played tonight and scored, and they all had their individual moments," Murmann said.

While Castans was clearly enjoying the fact that her team was a division champ after the game, content or satisfied would hardly be appropriate words to describe the standout senior.

"(Going downstate) has been our goal since we all played together in sixth grade," she said. "We want to get down state so badly."

--Dan Hyman

BG 76, Prospect 40: Buffalo Grove's size, strength and quickness often has opponents feeling the Bison are playing with seven or eight players on the court.

Prospect was the victim on Friday as the Bison forced 32 turnovers on the way to a 76-40 MSL East win.

"They're really good at defense. They sometimes have three girls trapping you. It's hard to get around their big arms," said Knights senior Megan Murray (11 points, 12 rebounds). "In practice we purposely play with seven girls on defense because that's what it's like playing against them."

Ellen Ayoub and Maggie Mocchi (15 points, 3 assists) both had 7 steals as Buffalo Grove improved to 9-1 and clinched a third-straight East title in a tie with Wheeling.

"It means a lot," said Ayoub (27 points, 2 assists). "One of our goals is to win the division. It's a goal but obviously there's one huge goal that we (still) have."

Ayoub's remaining goal is winning a state title, which the Bison have been gunning for ever since their loss to Morton in last year's AA quarterfinals.

But before looking ahead, the Bison (26-3) needed to take care of business and did so in the second quarter with some stifling defense. The resulting 30-4 run turned a 5-point deficit into a 35-14 lead.

"I think we panicked," said Prospect coach Martha Kelly said. "We should know better in terms of how to break it. We know that BG's a good team and they're aggressive on defense. It's hard to simulate that at practice. So really the only time you can prepare for that is in the game."

Heather Nisbet (10 points), K.C. Dunne (9 points) and Allison Mocchi (8 points) combined for 8 3-pointers as the Bison tied a school record with 13 long-range baskets.

The win was bittersweet for BG, which played in the last two MSL title games.

Wheeling will represent the East in Wednesday's championship game due to a tiebreaker.

"It's good news and bad news," BG coach Tom Dineen said. "A lot of kids would like to be in this position but these kids want to be playing in that championship game and they're not going to be. But those are the rules so we'll move on and get ready for the state tournament."

Sophomore Rachel Hunt had 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks for Prospect (15-10, 6-4). Freshman Sarah Winans added 6 points and 2 steals.

-- Joe Esse

Hoffman 48, Barrington 37: Junior Carol King scored a season-high 17 points while freshman Jada Stotts added 8 points with 8 rebounds as Hoffman Estates finished at 4-6 in the MSL West after an 0-6 start.

"It was still a learning process for us (when Hawks were 0-5," said first-year coach Mike Nocella.

Hawks' junior Megan Fischer had 6 points and 5 rebounds.

"They did a box-and-one on Megan and we had other kids step up," said Nocella, who has directed the Hawks to a 19-7 record. "Carol did a great job. And Jada had a great game, too."

Elk Grove 48, Hersey 41: Sophomore Ashley Capotosto scored a game-high 23 points and senior Kayla Mahoney added 10 for Elk Grove, which finished fourth in the MSL East at 4-6.

The Grenadiers (14-12) also received 5 points and 6 rebounds from Kristy Ottosen while Olivia Roback collected 6 rebounds and 4 steals.

Hersey (8-18, 2-8) was led by freshman Megan Rogowski (15 points) and freshman Kelly Rogowski (10).

Maine W. 48, Niles N. 32: Senior's Night at Maine West brought the Warriors a 24th Central Suburban League divisional crown in 27 years under coach Derril Kipp.

Mary Kusner (8 points, 9 rebounds), Colleen Vana, (11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) Erin Baumstark (5 points) and Brittany Begrowicz (12 points, 7 rebounds), Nicole Eisenburg and Michelle Braun were honored prior to the game.

Sophomore Samantha Acosta added 5 points for the CSL North champs (21-7, 9-0) as Kipp recorded the 670th win of his career.