Fremd pulls away from Conant
No matter how much you turn the heat up on Fremd, the Vikings manage to keep their cool.
They had to Friday night at Conant, where the Cougars had them flustered much of the time. Fremd was taking uncharacteristic poor shots, settling for long-range attempts from the perimeter, turning the ball over regularly against the Cougars' pesky 1-2-2 zone and generally allowing Conant to dictate the tempo of a close, slow-paced, low-scoring game.
Well, at least for three-plus quarters before Fremd pulled away to a 48-29 Mid-Suburban West victory.
“Give Conant credit,” said Fremd coach Dave Yates. “We struggled to get into the flow.”
But after Hailey Andress' 3-pointer brought Conant within 31-28 to open the final period, Fremd found its groove. High-scorer Jessi Wiedemann (22 points) converted a 3-point play to get things going and neatly fed hard-working Jaimie Groot for another hoop. Wiedemann added another jumper, a putback of her own miss and a couple of free throws as Fremd (17-4, 4-0) broke away to stay unbeaten in the division.
All of a sudden, the Fremd team that had committed turnovers on its first 8 possessions of the second half suddenly was hitting field goals, getting to the free throw line and reasserting itself on the boards with its height advantage.
The Vikes were also turning up the defense, forcing Conant into the same low-percentage looks that the Cougars (10-8, 1-3) had allowed them all game long.
The difference, said Wiedemann, a versatile 6-foot-1 senior, was “getting (the ball) into the middle (of Conant's zone).”
And the Vikes had no doubt they would eventually reach the point where their execution would improve.
“We have confidence in ourselves,” said Wiedemann. “We have a lot of depth.”
They needed it, as Yates tried different combinations all evening, bringing on Sarah Power, Megan Horn and Carrie Wagner off the bench to provide a spark, which they did.
Complementing all that was Ashley McConnell. The sophomore point guard hit a big-time 3 to close the first half and another to finally end the shotless-possession streak in the third quarter.
And even though the Vikes were holding down Conant primary guns Alyssa Rawleigh and Kelly Lomas, Natalie Kutrumanes, Jenna Heneghan and Lindsey Fillingim stepped up to provide some punch.
“I'm really proud of the girls,” said Conant coach Dan Travers. “That was a great effort against a very good Fremd team. It's hard to mimic (our zone) in practice.”
It takes patience and poise. And Fremd has that.”
“This group is full of what I would call tough, character kids,” said Yates, a product of, in good part, what he called a tough schedule and tight games against very good opposition.