Early outburst has Hoffman soaring to title
Playing before its biggest crowd of the season, the Hoffman Estates girls basketball team put on one of its best performances.
In a game to decide the Mid-Suburban League West title, the Hawks raced out to a 14-2 lead early in the second quarter and never looked back for a 55-22 triumph.
Hoffman posted its 18th straight victory dating to a loss at Fremd in early December.
"It was nice to beat them because they gave us one of our two losses," said Megan Fischer, the Hawks' all-time leading scorer who tossed in a game-high 21 points with 7 rebounds in her final home game. "Our other loss was to Wheeling, who we play next."
Hoffman plays at East champ Wheeling (26-1, 10-0) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday for the MSL title.
The Hawks (24-2, 9-1) finished 1 game ahead of Fremd (17-7, 8-2) in the West
"After winning 18 games in a row, we didn't want to lose this one," said coach Mike Nocella, who directed the Hawks to their first division title since Tom Kendall's club won the MSL South in 1991 and 1992. "We wanted to have something to show for it."
It was the last home game for Hoffman, which got a big boost from sophomore Jada Stotts, who scored 19 points with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
"We wanted to win this game so bad since Fremd gave us our last loss," said Stotts, whose 3-pointer off an assist from Carol King (3 assists) gave Hoffman the 14-2 lead with 6:04 left in the first half.
"It was amazing, we played so well," Stotts added. "We've been practicing so hard for four weeks. We were really focused. And this was very emotional for our seniors being their last home game."
Senior Megan Evans added 8 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists for the West champs while junior Megan Bernardoni had 6 points and 2 assists.
"Jada has been playing well for us the last five games," said Nocella, who guided Prospect to the title game in 2001 and 2004. "She had been fighting a cold for a while. You could see her confidence building each game. She does a nice job on the point of our press and that really keeps her into the game"
Fremd junior Gianna Abruzzo (8 points) actually gave her team a 2-0 lead on an inside bucket with 5:30 left in the first quarter. Hoffman then went on a 14-0 run before Abruzzo made a free throw with 5:18 left in the second quarter.
Senior Sam Thelin (6 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter.
"Hoffman played real well," said Fremd assistant coach Dave Townsend. "They came out and got the jump on us. We didn't quite have enough. I give them all the credit in the world."