Swan helps Hersey keep pace in East race

On its final possession, Rolling Meadows had its shot blocked by Maddie Swan.

That gave Hersey's girls basketball team a 41-30 victory over the Mustangs.

And that means the Huskies now hope that Prospect (Tuesday) or Elk Grove (Friday) doesn't block them from at least a share of the Mid-Suburban League East crown.

Victories over those two teams would mean Hersey (18-6, 6-2) could do no worse than tie for the crown.

The Huskies are tied for first with Wheeling, which faces Buffalo Grove and Rolling Meadows.

"Every game is important to us in the MSL and we knew Rolling Meadows was playing well," said Swan, who finished with 5 blocks, 16 rebounds and 9 points. "We were not taking anything for granted."

The Huskies took control from a stubborn Meadows team late in the second quarter with a 10-2 run for a 17-7 halftime edge.

Junior Megan Rogowski (game-high 18 points) scored 8 of the 10 points while Swan added a pair of free throws.

Senior Julia Fredian helped the Huskies maintain their advantage in the second half when she scored all 9 of her points. The crafty point guard also had 3 assists.

"Rolling Meadows has been very scrappy lately," said Fredian, also a standout soccer goalkeeper. "They've been giving everyone in the conference a good game.

"It's great to be a playing as a team heading into next week. We finally pretty much have everyone healthy."

Meadows senior Kelly Adair scored all of her team-high 11 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer and reverse layup in span of 35 seconds during a third-quarter 6-0 run by the Mustangs.

The final bucket of that mini run was a steal and layup by Amanda Gunn.

"Kelly woke up a little in the second half," said Mustangs coach Todd Hatfield. "It was nice to see her respond. For a while, she was the only one being aggressive."

Gunn, Sara Shumaker, Maryclare Loughery and freshman Morgan Keller each had 4 points for Meadows (11-13, 0-8).

Shumaker had Meadows' only 2 baskets in the first half.

"No excuses," Hatfield said. "I'll take the blame. This was our fourth game in five days. It's my fault. I've got to get more involved with the scheduling. You can see we were running on fumes in the first half (when the Mustangs were 2 of 22 from the field)."

The Mustangs dropped a hard-fought 24-22 decision to Prospect on Friday night.

"To hold Prospect to 24 points, then to hold Hersey to 41, that's 11 under their average, people in the area and stands probably think all we do in practice is work on defense.

"But honestly we only spend 15 to 20 minutes on defense. All our time is spent on offense. These girls work their tails off. We got open shots. We just didn't hit.

"But these girls are fully committed. They are warriors and I love them to death."

Hersey senior Kathryn Korff grabbed 6 rebounds and put in two key buckets in the second half when Hersey outscored the Mustangs 24-23.

"I thought our defense was great," said Huskies coach Mary Fendley. "It's fun to watch Maddie's blocks."

Now, the Huskies hope to have a fun week ahead when the MSL East will be decided.