Fremd gets defensive in beating South Elgin

After a pair of close defeats, Fremd made sure that its fate wouldn't be decided at the final buzzer.

The Vikings, who lost by 2 points to Jacobs and a point to Cary-Grove, knew it had a less frantic victory coming their way at some point. By allowing just 31 points through 3 quarters, and keeping South Elgin's Becca Smith out of the open court, the Vikings found themselves finishing with ease, a 50-33 victor over South Elgin in the Dundee-Crown girls basketball Thanksgiving Tournament Wednesday.

"We've kind of had a rocky start for the season, we have high expectations, but we've been answering everybody's challenge, so it's a good sign for this team, " said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "We've been in two-straight, very emotional games where they came down to the last shot."

The key for Fremd (3-2) was controlling the tempo, knowing South Elgin (1-3) would come with a lethal dose of Becca Smith, who's deadly in the open court.

"The more (Becca Smith) had the ball in open court, advantage South Elgin," said Yates

Smith got into the open court several times for layups in the first half, once giving the Storm a 14-13 lead in the second quarter with 4:55 remaining - but especially in the third quarter, including two breakaway layups in a 3-play sequence that capped a 6-0 run for the Storm, cutting Fremd's lead 32-29. Smith, who scored 15 points, most of them on the break, seemed to have broken the tight defensive plan Fremd had used for much of the game.

"I felt like we weren't shooting very well, and when that happens, you have to kind of take it to the basket," Smith said.

But the Storm's shooting proved to be costly. They watched most of their shots clank iron in the second half, going 4 of 20, and saw Taylor Glassman (21 points) nail four 3-pointers, two in the third quarter, and Gianna Abruzzo (14 points, 6 rebounds) take the ball aggressively to the hoop. Both combined for all 12 Viking points in the third, which widened Fremd's lead from 3 to 8.

South Elgin was outscored 11-2 in the final quarter, and couldn't depend on Smith, as Yates praised Bridget Kubis for a great job defensively.

"It's just fundamentals," Storm coach Tim Prendergast said after watching his team lose the rebound battle 28-21 and committing nearly a dozen turnovers. "33 points ... that's the lowest I've ever scored since I've been here coaching in years.

"We really didn't attack the glass offensively. We didn't shoot well, so we got one shot and that was it. On nights you can't shoot, you have to crash the offensive rebounds."