Hersey's Rogowski rings up 5 straight from long range to spark win

Megan Rogowski's feat early Saturday afternoon at the Maine West Tip-Off Classic will never be forgotten by those on hand to watch.

Beginning late in the third quarter and extending to the fourth, the Hersey sophomore standout swished five consecutive 3-pointers for 15 unanswered points that sparked the Huskies to a 67-58 triumph over Mother McAuley, which entered the game 6-1.

"It reminded me of that great Michael Jordan playoff game where he couldn't miss," said Huskies coach Mary Fendley. "Even Megan's sister (Kelly) thought the fifth one was ill-advised to take and it went right through net."

For the game, Megan was 7-for-7 from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 23 points.

She was named the tourney MVP and set a record with her seventh straight 3-pointers and 16 for the tourney. She also was the leading scorer for the five games with 96 points.

"It was pretty amazing," said Megan's teammate Julia Fredin, who started the game with a 3-pointer and finished with 11 points and 6 assists. "I have never seen that before. Even if there were two girls on her, she was still making them."

Maine West Hall of Fame coach Derril Kipp (29th season) - who has watched the sport since the 1970s - had never seen five straight 3s in a high school game.

"But it doesn't surprise that when I did see it, it was Megan," Kipp said.

"I've never imagined doing something like that," Megan said. "Maybe I've had two in a row. But that's it."

Her streak started with 1:15 left in the third quarter (tying the game at 45-45) and ended at 6:06 left in the fourth, giving Hersey a 57-48 cushion.

"I also want to give credit to my three seniors (second team all-tourney selection Kelly Rogowski, Sabrina Rayner and Kristen Gierman) who have given us a great atmosphere of leadership, not just on the court but off as well," Fendley said. "They started it this summer and they're a big reasons we're doing so well."

Junior Kristen Korff collected 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals for Hersey (5-2, 3-2 in tourney), while classmate Maddie Swan had 8 points and 3 rebounds.

"Kristin Korff had a great game," Fendley added. "For her to miss two weeks of practice because of the swimming season and still contribute the way she has says a lot. She was a difference maker today. And Maddie does such a nice job blocking shots and making players adjust their shots. I thought our ballhandlers did a great job, too."

Maine West 57, St. Ignatius 47: After scoring just 6 points in the first quarter, the Warriors exploded for 23 in the second.

Maine West took the lead for good when senior guard Shaina Yalda hit a 16-footer from the side for an 11-10 lead. Kelsey Hargesheimer followed with a 3-point play, and the Warriors never looked back while improving to 6-2 and finishing 4-1 in their own Tip-Off Classic.

Yalda handed out 8 assists and led the tourney with 31 while being selected to the second team along with teammate Sam Acosta (11 points, 6 rebounds).

Junior forward Megan O'Neill, who struck for a game-high 22 points and 8 rebounds against St. Ignatius, was a first-team all-tourney selection.

Maine West built the lead to 46-30 when freshman guard Amanda Hoye hit a 15-footer in the final minute of the third quarter.

The Wolfpack closed to within 53-47 with 1:07 left before Acosta was 4 of 4 at the line in the final 51 seconds to make it 57-47.

"We played awesome until the end," Yalda said. "But we'll get better at closing. We would have liked to have been 5-0 in this tourney, but 4-1 isn't bad and we are playing better as a team."

Hargesheimer (4 assists) also reached double digits with 12 points.

"We trust Ellen (Coogan, who had 5 rebounds and 2 assists), Kelsey and Megan," Yalda said. "We know when we get the ball inside to them, they will do their job."

Warriors coach Derril Kipp liked the way Yalda ran the offense.

"Shaina did a nice job the whole tournament," he said. "She is getting better all the time. We just need to get more consistent at the end of a game. We took some chances and threw the ball away. We weren't using our heads. We didn't need to do that."

St. Viator 50, Providence Catholic 41: Nursing a 3-point lead midway through the final quarter, junior forward Mary Calov tossed home a 3-pointer to give the Lions some breathing room and they never looked back en route to a 50-41 win over Providence Catholic in their East Suburban Catholic Conference opener.

"Our team needed something to get us going," said Calov, who finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds. "I just happened to be the person who was open.

"This is a great way to start conference. I thought we needed to step up on No. 11 (University of Illinois-Chicago bound Katie Hannemann) and we pulled through."

The Lions held the 6-foot-1 senior to 9 points.

"I thought we did a great job as a team defending her," said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness. "And it took a team effort. That's what we worked on all week in practice and I thought our posts all did a great job to stop her."

Hannemann had 2 field goals in the first half and one in the second.

"They were fronting me the whole time so it was difficult to get the ball inside," said Hannemann, who is averaging more than 15 points a game. "They were physical and tough."

Junior guard Susan Hohenadel led the Lions (3-3, 1-0) with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assist and 4 steals while Colleen Nolan grabbed 8 rebounds with 2 assists.

Kelly Hendricks (9 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals) hit a 3-pointer just before the second-quarter buzzer to send the Lions into the break leading 23-20.

"It was great to get our first win in conference," Hohenadel added. "We were coming off that loss to Prospect (49-40). I don't think we were ready for that game and we were chomping at the bit for this one. I thought we played the best help defense I have seen here in three years. That was the big difference from our last game to this one."

Elk Grove 49, Glenbrook North 28: Junior Ashley Capotosto (14 points, 11 rebounds), Olivia Roback (8 points, 5 assists) and Krystina Leazer (8 points) led the Grenadiers (4-4) to a 49-28 nonconference win over Glenbrook North in Northbrook.

Schaumburg 45, Sandburg 29: Taylor Kosla (14 points) and Sarah Kellermeyer (11) were top scorers for the host Saxons, who improved to 3-5 with a 45-29 nonconference win over Sandburg.

The big stat was the Saxons' free-throw shooting, as they made 29 of 46. Kelleymeyer converted 11 of 16, while Kosla was 6-for-7.

Sarah McGinn (4 of 5 free throws) added 8 points for the winners, while Rachael Kahan had 5.