Buffalo Grove 45, Wheeling 43

The atmosphere in the packed Mundelein gym Thursday night was high school girls basketball at its best.

Before a crowd of nearly 2,400, Wheeling and Buffalo Grove, the state's second- and third-ranked teams in Class 4A, were in a terrific duel to the wire before the Bison earned their 11th sectional championship with a 45-43 triumph.

It was Hall of Fame Buffalo Grove coach Tom Dineen against Wheeling and coach Shelly Wiegel, who has put the Wildcats in the state limelight since taking over four years ago.

After seeing his team fall behind to the Wildcats 22-6 and 31-9 the first two times, Dineen watched the Bison reverse the trend and jump to a 15-6 advantage started by sophomore Heather Nisbet's 3-pointer.

But the Wildcats dug in, climbing back from a 16-point deficit to dramatically tie the game at 36-36 with 3:04 left.

Allison Mocchi and Kaitlin Hillner each hit a pair of crucial free throws in the final 25.8 seconds to send BG (31-3) to a date with St. Charles North (23-6) in Monday's Elgin Community College supersectional.

Ellen Ayoub (14 points), Allison Mocchi (11) and Maggie Mocchi (11) led the Bison while Hillner added 6, including 2 free throws with 7. 3 seconds left for a 45-40 lead.

Ashley Wilson, who scored a game-high 22 points for Wheeling (28-4), hit a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds to set the final margin.

Wilson scored 12 of her 20 second-half points during the Wildcats' big 24-6 run which tied the game.

"I think we were just too content with our lead (28-12 with 6:47 left in the third quarter) and didn't push it," Ayoub said. "Coach just told us we were playing on our heels, playing not to lose."

"Give Wheeling a lot of credit," added Allison Mocchi. "They never quit. Neither did we."

Allison Mocchi's spin move for an 8-footer gave BG a 38-36 lead which increased to 40-36 when Maggie Mocchi banked in a 10-foot jumper with 1:50 left.

Bianca Szafarowicz's 10-footer and a steal and layup by Wilson made it 41-40 with 43 seconds left.

But Allison Mocchi hit her 2 free throws with 25.8 seconds left before Hillner then helped force a held ball and BG gained possession again.

"I was glad to be at the free-throw line," Allison Mocchi said. "I remember always watching how good Rachel Buchek (2007 graduate) was in that position at the end of games, and I wanted to always do that."

Hillner's free throws also loomed large.

"When I got fouled, I was like 'OK , I practice them for this all the time,'" Hillner said. "And they went it."

Dineen felt his team became a "little too tentative and was letting Wheeling get to the basket to easily" in the second half.

"But then we made our free throws down the stretch like we're supposed to," he said.

Stephanie Kuzmanic, filling in for injured Janelle Cannon (wrist), added 6 points for Wheeling while Illinois-bound Lana Rukavina had 5.

Wiegel liked her team's comeback.

"What made a difference was that we got a couple of calls," she said. "There was a big gap between the amount of times we went to the line (7 free throws) and they went to the line (14 free throws).

"We had to play hard and attack the basket. In the second half, we finished. Even if we didn't get a call, we still got the basket."