Valiant exit for Hoffman Estates
The Hoffman Estates girls basketball team didn't win a regional crown on Friday night but it easily won the hearts of its fans and head coach.
The Hawks battled Class 4A state-ranked and top-seeded Fenwick (26-4) right down to the wire before falling 50-43 in their own regional.
No. 8 Hoffman Estates (19-9) led 9-4 early and then rallied from a 9-point deficit late in third quarter.
Senior forward Jada Stotts brought the Hawks fans to their feet when she swished a 3-pointer to bring her team to within 41-40 with 4:14 left.
Although Hoffman could get no closer, it still only trailed by 4 points with less than minute to play.
Stotts led all scorers with 21 points while sophomore teammate Destinee Young tossed in 12.
"That No. 12 (Stotts) couldn't miss," said Fenwick coach Dave Power. "They have excellent inside players (Stotts, Young, Precious Ogunleye and Becca Stoczynski). Anyone who thought we were a 30-point favorite in this game was kidding themselves."
A rebound layup by Hoffman senior Tanya Skworch broke a 9-9 tie and the Hawks went ahead 13-9 on 2 free throws by Stotts.
Stotts tossed a beautiful lob pass into Young for a layup that gave Hoffman a 15-12 lead after one quarter.
But a layup by Hannah Ballard and baseline 16-footer by Kathleen Roche to start the second quarter gave Fenwick its first lead at 16-15.
A free throw by Ogunleye tied it at 16 before Fenwick got the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Kyra Navarette.
Trailing 21-16, Hoffman senior Melanie McGinn was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and swished 3 straight free throws to get Hoffman back to within 21-19.
Moments later, junior Mary Pettit fired home a 17-footer at the halftime buzzer leaving the Hawks down 22-21.
"The kids never gave up at any point in the game," Nocella said. "That's why I am so proud of them."
Friars senior guard Sarah Williams, who led her team with 14 points, swished a 26-footer at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Friars a 38-31 lead.
But Stotts scored three straight baskets for Hoffman in the fourth quarter to get her team to within 40-37.
Her third basket in that stretch came when Young dished the ball out to the side, allowing Stotts a clear lane to the basket.
"We believed the whole game," said Stotts, who will play volleyball at Division I Austin Peay. "I really believe everyone left everything on the court and I know I did. I'm really going to miss Hoffman Estates High. Fenwick is a good team and we gave them a great game."
No one could argue.
"That No. 12 played a great game," said Williams (three 3-pointers), who won her fourth straight regional crown at Fenwick. "We came out a little slow. You're always worried but I had confidence once we made adjustments that we would be OK. There's no way where we going to let our season end here."
Hoffman did its best to take that happen.
"That is a very good team and we knew it would be a tough game," Power added. "They beat a very good Oak Park-River Forest in the semifinal and that was no fluke. I don't understand how they had eight losses.
"They have a strong inside presence. We were so focused on cutting that off, we gave them a little too much on the perimeter."
Nocella called it a "gutty" performance by his Hawks, who started the season by winning the Elk Grove-Hoffman Estates-Lake Park tourney and took third in the Mundelein Christmas tourney.
"Jada was great, she has done that for us all season," Nocella said about Stotts' big career-closing game. "I'm very proud of all these girls. They were in it right to the last minute.
"Fenwick is a very good team and I'm proud of how we presented ourselves. It was a great game by a lot of kids out there on both sides."
Zion-Benton 57, Hersey 32: Friday's Class 4A championship game at Zion-Benton was just not meant to be for the Hersey girls basketball team.
The No. 4-seeded Huskies kept the game close for just over a half on the No. 5-seeded Zee-Bees' home court.
But they could not contain Zion-Benton senior Juanita Robinson or the Zee-Bees' second-half momentum as the hosts rolled to a 57-32 victory over Hersey (23-8) to end the Huskies' season.
Zion-Benton (23-6) will face top-seeded Libertyville (29-0) at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Mundelein sectional semifinals in what will be the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams.
After playing to a 10-10 tie after one quarter, Hersey struggled in the second quarter as the Zee-Bees outscored them 20-10 to take a 30-20 lead into halftime.
DePaul-bound senior Megan Rogowski's driving basket to open the third quarter cut the lead to 30-22.
But that was as close as the Huskies got as Zion-Benton went on a huge 19-3 run with a buzzer-beater on a rebound by junior Octavia Crump giving the Zee-Bees their biggest lead at 49-25 entering the fourth quarter.
Rogowski scored 10 of her team-high 17 points in the first half, but overall Hersey really struggled with its shooting from the field. The Huskies finished 10-for-43 overall from the floor (23 percent).
Meanwhile, the streak-shooting Robinson was locked in as she scored 15 of her game-high 23 points in the first half while hitting 11-of-19 shots from the field.
"Hersey is a great team; playing on our home floor and getting the regional here was huge for Zion," said Zion-Benton coach Tanya Johnson, whose team shot 60 percent from the field. "Helena and Samantha Rodriguez played a great defensive game, and I think they had a lot to do with Rogowski missing shots."
Robinson had some good scoring support from Crump and Samantha Rodriguez with 12 points each. Stefanie Mueller scored 6 points for Hersey, followed by Eileen Zydek and Maggie Hogen with 4 points apiece.
"It just wasn't our night across the board defensively and it was not indicative of the way we played most of the season," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley. "I'm just really proud of the kids, they had 23 wins, and they won our (MSL East) division."
After outscoring Hersey 39-15 in the second and third quarters combined, Zion-Benton and Robinson were able to cruise to victory in the final quarter.
"We just wanted to play our game and not play our opponent's game," said Robinson. "We did good, but it's not enough though. We've got sectionals next."
Fendley was still pleased with her squad's overall season despite the disappointing ending.
"To have only one returning starter and to have as much success as we did was a great season," said Fendley. "Zion-Benton played a really good game and I wish them nothing but the best."
Zion-Benton hopes to finally beat Libertyville after going 0-3 against the Wildcats so far this season.
"When Robinson is working on all cylinders she is hard to guard and she had a great offensive game tonight," said Johnson. "Libertyville is a great team and their undefeated. But I really just want to enjoy this right now."
John Bumbales
Bartlett 46, Meadows 31: Bartlett's girls basketball team may not have been its usual smooth self from start to finish Friday night, but the Hawks did what they do best, and left Carol Stream with another regional championship.
Bartlett hit its first 4 shots and blitzed Rolling Meadows 9-0 to start the game, and then cruised to a 46-31 win over the Mustangs in the title game of the Class 4A Glenbard North regional.
No. 3 Bartlett (28-1), the second seed, will carry a 13-game winning streak into Tuesday's 8:10 p.m. York sectional semifinal against third-seeded Trinity, a team the Hawks beat 61-50 back on Nov. 23.
The regional title is Bartlett's second straight and fifth since the school opened in 1998.
Tuesday's sectional opener will pit top-seeded Fenwick against fourth seed Proviso East.
"We definitely have some kinks to work out in practice to get prepared for Trinity," said Bartlett senior Jacki Gulczynski, who led the Hawks with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
One thing Bartlett doesn't have to work on is its energy to start a game.
As it has all season, the Hawks took the lead role in setting the tone for Friday's game by harassing Rolling Meadows (19-12) into a 3 of 27 shooting performance in the first half.
And even though Bartlett was careless with the basketball, committing 12 turnovers in the first half and 25 for the game, the Hawks made 12 of 20 shots in the first half and had a 28-9 lead at the break.
"We had way too many turnovers but defense set the tone again," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. "We came out hot and we did a good job early on."
The Hawks got an early boost from senior Christina Carlson, who scored 6 of her 8 points in the first quarter.
"We feed off each other," Carlson said. "There's definitely some things we can work on. We just have to practice hard and get ready for (Tuesday)."
The Mustangs played a much better second half, leaving coach Todd Hatfield pleased as he looks to the future with a team that had just three seniors.
Meadows fought back in the second half to make the final score respectable. Though they never seriously threatened the lead, the Mustangs didn't let Bartlett make it a blowout either. In fact, they held the Hawks to a season-low point total.
"I thought defensively we did just fine," Hatfield said. "We just opened up too slow. But to get the (fourth) ranked team in the state to call a timeout with three minutes left in the game says something. I love this team. We'll be back and we'll be the ones cutting the nets down next year."
Haley Videckis added 10 points for Bartlett, which shot 19 of 37 for the game and outrebounded the Mustangs 36-22.
Freshman Jennifer Vilet led Meadows with 8 points, including two 3-pointers. The Mustangs shot just 12 of 51 for the game.
John Radtke