Hersey comes up big against Buffalo Grove

The Hersey girls basketball team had a decided height advantage over host Buffalo Grove on Friday night.

Fittingly, it was two post players who came up big for the Huskies down the stretch in a 62-52 Mid-Suburban League East Division victory.

Six-foot junior Kathryn Korff scored 6 points in the fourth quarter, and 5-10 senior Kristen Gierman added 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Huskies broke open a close game late.

A 3-pointer by Heather Nisbet brought the Bison to within 48-47 with 4:15 left, but BG didn't score again until 1:10 remained as Hersey closed out with a 14-5 run.

"We stepped up our defense in the fourth quarter," Korff said.

Huskies sophomore Megan Rogowski scored 17 points, while Bison sophomore Andrea DiPrima led all scorers with 19.

"This has been a mirror image of our season," said BG coach Pat Dudle. "We've played a tough schedule and we've been in most of our games. We've just got to find a way to finish."

DiPrima hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter, then a Kelly Mahoney jumper rallied BG to a 44-44 tie early in the final eight minutes.

"When you play a team that has a lot of great 3-point shooters like Buffalo Grove, you know they're never out of a game," Gierman said.

But after Nisbet brought the Bison to within 1, layups from Korff and Gierman helped Hersey extend its lead.

Julia Fredian (14 points) hit 4 straight free throws to give the Huskies a 10-point lead with under a minute left.

The Huskies' Kelly Rogowski scored 9 points. For BG, Stacy Lialios pitched in 12 points and KC Dunne had 7.

BG senior Kaitlin Hillner, who was honored on senior night along with classmates Hillary Reynolds, Dayna George and Brittany Abrahms, finished with 6 points.

"Most of our games have been neck-and-neck," Hillner said. "We've just got to remember to box out and rebound at the end. We've got a couple more home games - we want to stay motivated and finish strong."

Korff finished with 8 points for the Huskies, and 5 of Gierman's 10 boards came on the offensive end.

"We won the game," said Gierman, "but we're not satisfied. We need to learn to play four quarters instead of just pulling games out at the end. That's what good teams do - play all four quarters."