Wheaton North tournament roundup
If Megan Rogowski were in Las Vegas, she'd be hitting blackjack until the house was broke.
That's the kind of zone the Hersey junior is in.
Rogowski scored 31 points for the second straight night - hitting five straight 3-pointers in the first half - to shoot the Huskies past Waubonsie Valley 61-30 for the Bill Neibch Falcon Holiday Classic championship on Wednesday at Wheaton North.
"Megan was unstoppable for a stretch there," Hersey coach Mary Fendley said. "This whole tournament she's been fantastic."
Just like on Tuesday against Elk Grove, Rogowski dialed it up for 21 points in the first half alone. With Waubonsie's Keiera Ray in her face, she buried a long 3-pointer to put Hersey ahead for good at 7-6 midway through the first quarter. Waubonsie switched Erica Jordan onto Rogowski, but she promptly hit another contested 3-pointer from deep. Three Rogowski triples later, Hersey led 30-18 and it was 34-18 at half.
"I knew I had enough space to get the shot off," Rogowski said, "and my shot was on tonight. I don't really think about where I'm at on the floor. If I have space, why not take them - especially if I'm making them."
Rogowski scored 106 points in four games at Wheaton North. For good measure she hit all 10 of her free-throw attempts Wednesday.
Hersey's championship is its third at Wheaton North, first since 2004. The Huskies (11-3) finally claimed the biggest tournament hardware after losing to Hinsdale Central in last year's Wheaton North semifinals and to Stevenson in the Maine West Tip-Off Classic final last month.
"We had the opportunity at the Maine West tournament," Fendley said, "and we were not able to finish that game. That was disappointing. We talked about trying to take advantage of another opportunity to win a big tournament. Once we got that separation I think the girls tasted victory. No one relaxed."
Waubonsie, in the tournament final for the second straight year, trailed just 15-13 after a well-played first quarter on both sides. Keiera Ray and Tanysha Walls both scored 4 points in the early going.
But the Warriors (12-2), who failed to break 40 points for the first time this season, were held scoreless for the final 3:57 of the first half after a Becky Williford 3-pointer. Hersey ended the half on a 12-0 run and Waubonsie shot 2 of 15 in the second quarter.
"We just fell apart defensively," Ray said, "and our shots weren't falling. We need to leave this game behind us and keep it there."
Ray scored 12 points and had 6 rebounds for Waubonsie - including the Warriors' only transition basket. Normally a team that feasts off opponents' turnovers, Waubonsie went hungry. The Warriors were also outrebounded 42-25.
"We picked the worst game to play our best worst game of the season," Waubonsie coach Kim Connell said.
"Hersey's a great team. We gotta play better to beat a team like that."
Maddie Swan grabbed 12 of Hersey's rebound total and 5 of the Huskies' 15 offensive rebounds. She also tallied 10 points.
- Joshua Welge
Elk Grove 60, St. Charles East 41: Elk Grove post players Ashley Capotosto and Courtney Lindfors were double trouble for St. Charles East.
The two Division I recruits - Capotosto (St. Bonaventure) and Lindfors (UW-Milwaukee) - each recorded double-doubles to power the Grenadiers (12-3) to a 60-41 victory over the Saints (9-6) in the third-place game of the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic held at Wheaton North.
Capotosto, a 6-foot senior forward, poured in a game-high 29 points with 11 rebounds and 2 steals while 6-foot-4 senior center Lindfors added 21 points, 14 rebounds, 7 blocked shots and 4 steals for the Grens.
"It was nice to come out and have me and Court (Lindfors) play for most of the game because I know we've been in foul trouble during the first part of the season," said Capotosto, whose 18 second-half points sparked the Grens' 35-20 surge over the final 2 quarters.
"We were kind of mad because we wanted to be in the championship game. We took the attitude that if we were going to play for third place we were going to get it."
St. Charles East, which entered the tournament unseeded before knocking off top-seeded Hinsdale Central and No. 8 Lyons Township, kept things tight over the first 16 minutes.
Senior guard Lexi Baltes, who finished with a team-leading 20 points and 4 assists, hit 4 of her first 5 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help the Saints remain close early. St. Charles East trailed 25-21 at halftime.
The Saints began the second half on a positive note as Jaime Rust's 3-pointer from the corner narrowed the deficit to 25-24.
From there, however, Elk Grove took command thanks to a 17-2 run with 14 of those points coming from Capotosto and Lindfors.
"It's the best that they've played together all season," said Grenadiers coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "They were real efficient down low.
"They stayed out of foul trouble. That helps because everything we run this year involves the two of them. When one of them is out of the game, our backup posts can play good defense and do a lot of fundamental things but you lose something without those two scorers in there at the same time.
"There haven't been a lot of minutes where we've had them both out there together for that long of a stretch. It was nice to see that."
Something that Saints coach Lori Drumtra would rather not have witnessed.
"We didn't have an answer for their two big girls tonight," admitted Drumtra. "They dominated us on the inside - there's no other way to say it."
Elk Grove earned a 36-20 rebounding edge.
"More than anything, their boards killed us," said Drumtra. "That's what gets me the most because that is something you can control. You can control blocking out, moving your feet and getting a body on them. "We've been doing a good job of that up until tonight. That's what is so frustrating."
Olivia Roback added 7 points and 6 assists for the Grens, who rebounded from Tuesday night's 53-41 semifinal loss to Hersey.
"I've been here 10 years as a head coach and assistant (coach) and this is our highest finish at this tournament," said Kirkorsky.
- Craig Brueske