Buffalo Grove 57, Mundelein 41
With all-stater Maggie Mocchi battling through an eye infection, Buffalo Grove's girls basketball still managed to avoid a battle with host Mundelein on Monday night.
The top-seeded Bison used a 10-4 run to take 15-8 first-quarter lead over No. 5 seeded Mundelein before a crowd of more than 1,500.
From the final minute of the first half until the final buzzer, the Bison maintained a double-digit cushion before prevailing 57-41 in the Class 4A semifinal of the Mundelein sectional.
Buffalo Grove (30-3) advances to Thursday's 7:30 p.m. sectional final against the winner of today's 7:30 p.m. semifinal between No. 2 Wheeling (27-3) and No. 3 Warren (27-2).
Sophomore Heather Nisbet collected a team-high 15 points while junior Kaitlin Hillner grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds. They are the two underclassmen who start for the Mid-Suburban East co-champs.
"The cupboard is not bare for next season," said Bison coach Tom Dineen. "And I thought Heather played good defense on their point guard, and Kaitlin led us with rebounds."
Nisbet hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second quarter to give the Bison their first double-digit lead at 25-15. Nisbet also grabbed 2 rebounds.
"Mr. Dineen tells us to get back on defense all the time," she said. "Kaitlin and I joke about it (getting rebounds) all the time because we're the smallest on the team. Sometimes we just have to weave through people and get good position."
"I've never had that many rebounds," said Hillner, whose previous high was 7. "I just kept crashing the boards and was in the right place at the right time."
Loyola-bound Ellen Ayoub chipped in 12 points for the winners while Maggie Mocchi ended up with 9 points and 5 rebounds. Her sister Allison added 7.
"My right eye was terrible," said Maggie, who began the game wearing prescription glasses, but then switched to her contact lenses late in the first quarter. "When the ball was being passed to me from a distance, sometimes I didn't even know where to put my hands for it. It was just hard focusing on things."
Mustangs coach Brian Evans felt his team's focus may have been hindered by nerves.
"I thought we were kind of nervous at the start," Evans said. "We were missing bunnies and chip shots. And I told the girls there was nothing I could do about that. They just had to relax."
Junior JJ Sawchuk led the Mustangs (23-8) with 15 points while senior Sam Panitch added 10. Freshman Olivia Dunigan, sophomore Brooke Evans and sophomore Toni Knar each had 4 points.
"I thought Olivia, for a freshman, did a good job defensively on Ellen Ayoub." Evans added.
"When you look over at Buffalo Grove, they have tons of playoff experience and you look at us and we're playing with a player (Dunigan) who was in middle school a year ago."
Evans was pleased with his team's performance.
"In the first half, we just couldn't put the ball in the basket and you have to credit Buffalo Grove's defense," he said. "They forced us to rush some shots. They haven't won 30 games just with their experience. They play good defense."
But Evans certainly witnessed the Bison savvy and confidence.
"You look over and seeing them just laughing and relaxed," he said. "Hopefully, that will be us a year from now -- laughing, smiling and relaxed while the other team is like us now."