Girls basketball / Northwest roundup
Hersey, the Mid-Suburban East, Wheaton North Falcon Classic and Season’s End champion, is playing for another championship Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The Class 4A Zion-Benton girls baksetball regional title.
The No. 4-seeded Huskies (23-7) raced past MSL East rival and No. 20 Wheeling 65-35 on Wednesday night to earn their chance in the title match against the host Zee-Bees (No. 5), who defeated No. 12 Lake Zurich 53-42.
Coach Mary Fendley’s Huskies were led by MSL East Player of the Year Megan Rogowski’s 22 points, including four 3-point baskets.
The senior guard and classmate Eileen Zydek (8 points, 6 rebounds) both had 4 steals.
Junior point guard Jen Hall added 11 points while classmate Maggie Hogen had 10 with a team-high 8 rebounds.
Senior forward Stefanie Mueller grabbed 7 rebounds while junior Corinne Busby, senior Michaela Dwyer and Hogen each had 3 assists.
Wheeling (4-26) was led by junior Kellie Kuzmanic’s 10 points.
Barrington 54, Highland Park 38: No. 6-seeded Barrington (19-11) raced to a 17-1 lead and advanced to Friday’s 7:30 p.m. championship game of the Grant regional against No. 3 Stevenson (21-8), which defeated No. 14 Mundelein 63-43.
The Patriots edged Barrington 46-43 on Dec. 23 at Proviso East in the Suburban Holiday Showcase.
“I think it’s a fairly even matchup,” said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro, who coached many times against Pats Hall of Fame coach Tom Dineen when he was at Buffalo Grove. “We didn’t have Nicole Collis (junior guard) too much that game (due to illness). It should be a pretty good game.
“Defensively, we’ve got to force them to take shots that are contested and we have to make sure we hit the boards and play our game.”
Senior Abby Kirchoff played another solid all-around game to lead the Fillies against No. 11 Highland Park.
The MSL West Player of the Year led the Fillies with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists while classmate Brooke Chandor added 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals before injuring her shoulder early in the fourth quarter.
Barreiro said the 5-foot-11 forward is questionable for Friday.
“Brooke did a lot of nice things for us in this game,” Barreiro said. “And Abby Kirchoff had her usual steady game.”
Collins had 8 points for the Fillies while Shelby Whigham (4 rebounds) and Sarah Mass each chipped in 6.
“I really felt that when we jumped out to the big lead, we then relaxed and became a little complacent in the second quarter,” Barreiro said. “We seemed to rush things.
“But we had a lot of kids involved in scoring and that is always a good thing.”