Palatine beats nerves, Maine West
When Palatine junior Laura Schweiker swept to the basket for a layup and her game-high ninth point with 4:40 left in the game, it gave the visiting Pirates a 38-31 lead over host Maine West in Monday's girls basketball opener.
"That's what I like about Laura," said Palatine coach Leslie Schock. "She plays with no fear."
Palatine did get a scare from Maine West the rest of the way before hanging on for a 43-40 nonconference triumph.
Two free throws by sophomore McKenzie Wiedemann gave the Pirates a 3-point lead with 10.7 seconds.
Maine West missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left, and though they got the rebound the Warriors couldn't get off another clear attempt from long range.
"The girls never got down," Schock said. "In the past, I've had girls start hanging their heads when we'd get down 5 points. But I felt these girls felt confident the whole game."
Pirates sophomore guard Nia Pappas added 8 points, while Katie Scovic and Wiedemann each had 6.
"We were all kind of nervous," said Schweiker, who practiced for only five days because she was running with her Class 3A cross country team (second in the state) during the first week of basketball practice. "We knew, though, if we stepped up and started playing like we have been in practice, we'd be OK."
Schweiker stepped up for her career-high point total.
"Being with us for only five days, if you would have bet me that Laura was going to be our leading scorer in the game, I don't know if I would have made that bet," Schock said. "She just took the ball right to the basket."
Junior Amanda Hoye, senior Kayla Kennelly (4 rebounds) and freshman Brittany Collins (9 rebounds) each scored 8 points for the Warriors, while junior Megan John (3 assists) added 7.
The Pirates converted 18 of 27 free throws while West made 6 of 14.
"Our free-throw shooting definitely hurt us," said Hoye, the Warriors' point guard who had 2 steals and 2 assists. "And we did not pass well. We turned it over a lot when they were in their zone. We've just got to get ready now for some tough teams in our tournament (Maine West Tip-Off Classic starts a week from Wednesday)."
Maine West coach Derril Kipp, beginning his 30th season, liked the effort from his girls.
"We just made a lot of mental mistakes," he said. "We had 22 turnovers and missed too many free throws. We played a lot of kids. We are experimenting. It's going to be a tough first part of the season because of the tough teams (four ranked in the top 20 in the Chicago area) in our tournament."
Fremd 58, Grant 18: Junior Jessie Wiedemann scored a game-high 18 points for the visiting Vikings, who opened the season with a nonconference win in Fox Lake.
Sophomore guard Ashley McConnell added 12 points, and senior forward Megan Gray chipped in 11 for the defending Mid-Suburban League West Division champions, who led 36-7 at the break.
The Vikings converted four 3-pointers, getting three from Wiedemann and one from McConnell.