Wildcats gain some revenge

The Wheeling girls basketball team was on a mission Friday night during a 62-38 win against Buffalo Grove in a Mid-Suburban East showdown.

The host Wildcats served up some revenge left over from last year's 45-43 loss to the Bison in the sectional championship.

"There was nothing that was going to stop us from winning this game," senior forward Ashley Wilson said. "We've been waiting for this game since after we lost last year. We were going to dominate."

And from start to finish, dominate is exactly what the host Wildcats (8-0) did.

Wilson scored 20 points and snared 8 rebounds to lead the team in both categories. Also leading the charge were Janelle Cannon (13 points, 6 rebounds) and Stephanie Kuzmanic (12 points, 4 rebounds).

Wilson's defensive presence wasn't overlooked either.

"Ashley does such a good job under the basket," Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel said. "She makes people adjust their shots and does a lot of things that don't show up in stats."

It was that kind of defense that stymied Buffalo Grove all night. The Wildcats surrendered just 23 points during the final three quarters, after having scored 24 of their own in the first.

The Bison (3-4) turned the ball over 20 times and had trouble finding open looks. Sophomore Andrea DiPrima (12 points) led the team in scoring and hit a pair of 3-pointers. Stacey Lialios grabbed 8 rebounds and tallied 6 points.

"The past few years we've had such nailbiters with them," Wiegel said. "We talked about coming out and really dominating the game and we did that. And it was nice to win pretty significantly."

Each team will continue conference play next week, with Wheeling facing Rolling Meadows on Thursday and the Bison squaring off against Prospect on Friday.