Girls basketball / Northwest roundup

Fremd's first-place hold on the Mid-Suburban West girls basketball standings received a scare Friday night.

But Vikings fans were finally able to relax in the final quarter at Schaumburg Friday night.

Despite trailing 18-9 after one period and by as many as 11 points in the second half, the Vikings outscored the Saxons 15-4 in the final eight minutes to register a 48-39 triumph.

Fremd (20-4, 8-0) remained one game ahead of Barrington (17-7, 7-1) with two games to play in the West.

Fremd hosts Barrington on Friday, Feb. 4, in the final conference game of the season.

"Credit Schaumburg," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "It was their Senior's Night and they came out playing very passionately. They did a lot of great things to start the game." But the Vikes did a lot of great things to start the second half, making it difficult for Schaumburg to advance the ball.

"The first four of five possessions they had trouble getting the ball past half court," Yates said. "We had their lead (11 points) down to 2 in six possessions."

Fremd got the lead for good when sophomore guard Ashley McConnell (8 points) hit a 3-pointer for a 36-35 lead with 5:43 left in the game.

Junior Jessi Wiedemann, who led Fremd with 14 points, hit a 3-pointer for a 42-35 lead with 4:07 left.

Senior guard Bridget Kubis' 3-point play with 50 seconds left capped the scoring.

Kubis and Megan Gray each added 9 points for Fremd while Jaimie Groot chipped in 6.

"It wasn't like we were playing terribly at the start, but Ashley's (Berggren, Schaumburg coach) kids were really fighting hard," Yates said. "We took the opportunity at half to talk about what we wanted to do and we picked up the intensity."

Fremd outscored Schaumburg 31-11 in the final two quarters.

Junior Alyssa Saklak led the Saxons (9-13, 2-6) with 12 points while senior Jennifer Pomagier added 10 and Rachel Stuehm 7.

Barrington 52, Palatine 45: Trailing by 10 points early in the third quarter, Barrington (17-7, 7-1) went to a four-guard offense and was able to rally and remain one game behind Fremd in the MSL West.

Senior guard Abby Kirchoff scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Fillies who led 17-5 on their Senior Night.

But Palatine stormed back as sophomore Nia Pappas hit 4 of her 5 3-point baskets which helped put the Pirates ahead 29-25 at half.

Pappas finished with 19 points (14 in the first half) for Palatine (7-16, 1-7) while sophomore McKenzie Wiedemann added 15 and senior Katie Scovic 6.

Shelby Whigham added 11 points and 6 rebounds for Barrington.

Teammate Sarah Mass had 5 steals and 4 points while Brook Chandor contributed 6 points.

"Abby and Shelby had some big rebounds for us," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "And Sam Maasarani did a good job defensively on Pappas. I was proud of my kids for not giving up.

"We spread things out with a quicker offense in the second half against their zone and we were able to create some offense out of that." Maine West 51, Maine East 36: Junior Amanda Hoye led the host Warriors (9-14, 5-2) on Senior Night with 15 points (four 3-pointers) and 4 rebounds.

Freshman Brittany Collins added 8 points for West, which outscored the Blue Demons 30-6 in the second quarter.