Barrington pulls together, gets past Buffalo Grove

Sarah Mass didn't need much time to describe what a season-ending injury to fellow sophomore Shelby Whigham meant to the Barrington girls basketball team.

"Devastating," Mass said. "But she's going to be here for some of our games and she's still a big part of our team."

Whigham was a top scorer and rebounder as a freshman before a knee injury in December ended her season. This year, during preseason practice she suffered an ACL and meniscus injury on her other knee and underwent surgery Friday.

"Without Shelby, we realized we had to come together as a team," said 6-foot senior forward Jenny Schnack. "Everyone has to step up and fill their roles."

So far, so good.

The Fillies won their second straight Saturday afternoon as they ended Buffalo Grove's 40-game home floor winning streak with a 57-43 triumph in the second-round game of the Bison Classic.

"We hadn't beat Buffalo Grove in a long time," said Mass, whose 6 points in the first four minutes helped stake the Fillies to a 10-4 lead. "We were really pumped up to play them, especially on their home floor."

Barrington increased the advantage to 16-5 before Buffalo Grove climbed back to within 7 with a minute to go in the half.

Back-to-back buckets by Abby Kirchoff (8 points) and Sam Massarani gave the Fillies a 30-18 lead the at break.

"One of the things I was happiest about was that when they (BG) came back from the deficit, our kids hit some big shots at big times," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "We were a little out on control in the second half, but we maintained enough to pull through."

A reverse layup by senior Kaitlin Hillner got BG to within 41-34 in the fourth quarter but Fillies junior Emily Harris (12 points) answered with a 6-foot driving layup and the hosts never got closer than seven.

"We kept holding them off when they'd make a run at us," Mass said. "That was the main thing,"

Sophomore Andrea DiPrima came off the bench to lead BG (0-2) with 13 points, followed by Hillner (10), Stacey Lialos (9) and Kelly Mahoney (6).

"We had lot of unforced turnovers," said first-year Bison coach Pat Dudle. "But credit Barrington (2-0). They're a very good team. They are very well balanced. They have a lot of weapons.

"I told our girls they took a half-step forward. I thought we played better than Tuesday (a 40-38 loss to Libertyville). Collectively, our defense was like controlled chaos. We created some turnovers and that's what we need to do the rest of the season."

Schnack and Sarah Reindl each had 5 assists for the Fillies while Harris had 3.

"We got some big offensive play from Jenny," Barreiro said. "Emily did a nice job in the post and Anna Kirchoff (10 points) had some big buckets. Abby Kirchoff, only a sophomore, has had to learn how to handle the ball in a hurry and she has."

Mass's two bank shots and 16-footer helped get the Fillies' offense going early.

"Sarah does a real nice job as a quiet floor presence" Barreiro said. "She's not real flashy but she gets the job done. She makes sure everyone is in the right spot and doing what they're supposed to be doing. She has great maturity for a sophomore."