Hoffman Estates whistles a winning tune

The theme for the officials in Tuesday's opening-round game of the Hoffman Estates-Lake Park-Elk Grove Girls Basketball Invite could have been "Whistle While You Work."

There were 49 fouls called 22 on the host Hawks and 27 on visiting North Lawndale.

While both teams worked hard through the whistles for all 32 minutes, the Hawks did the better work on the scoreboard for the majority of the contest. They eventually put away a 50-37 victory over the Phoenix.

"That was a pretty close game," said Hawks 6-foot-1 junior forward Becca Stoczynski, who scored a game-high 18 points with 6 rebounds and 2 steals. "Once we got ahead, we got calmed down."

The Hawks got rolling early in their season opener, taking a 12-3 lead on a pair of free throws by Stoczynski with 3:33 left in the first quarter.

Junior Tiffany Pitter's rebound and 8-foot basket in the lane with 23 seconds left in the first half gave the Hawks a 21-12 cushion at intermission.

A 3-pointer by North Lawndale junior Shantell Wilson made it 24-17 with 6:15 left in the third quarter but that's as close as the Phoenix got.

The Hawks came back with a 6-0 run, getting a driving layup from Stoczynski, a layup by Destinee Young (12 points, 12 rebounds) off a nice bounce pass from Mary Pettit (8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and a layup by guard Sara Burns (8 points).

Late in the game, Burns grabbed a loose ball and quickly released a 10-foot swish from the middle of the lane for her eighth point.

"She's so aggressive I don't understand how she does it," Stoczynski said of the Hawks' 5-foot-6 senior. "In practice, she'll come out from nowhere and get the ball. We're like, 'How do you do that?"

"I don't know how she (Burns) does it," echoed Hawks coach Mike Nocella, whose team also received 4 rebounds from junior Shante Hill. "And Becca had a great game. She took the ball to the hoop, rebounded and made free throws (7-of-9)."

Young made a nice pass to Stocyznski for an easy layup in the first quarter which put Hoffman ahead 9-3.

"We connected very well," said Stoczynski of her classmate and front-line partner Young.

North Lawndale (1-1) had some tough post play, too, in 5-10 senior Tytianna Powell (15 points on 7-of-12 free throws) and 6-2 sophomore Precious Harden (8 points).

"We missed some good opportunities," said Phoenix first-year coach Terrance Crump, who was a Big Ten All-Academic selection and senior guard for Purdue in the 2007-08 season.

"When you are playing on the road, you have to be mentally tough. We put them on the free throw line too much (Hoffman was 19-of-35) and we had a couple of breakdowns defensively.

"We're a young team. With time we will get better."

Wilson also had 8 points for the west-side Chicago school, which topped DuSable 59-53 in overtime Monday.

Barrington 57, Jacobs 29: The last name Kirchoff has been a leading scorer for Barrington's girls basketball team quite a few times over the past six years.

Anna and Abby, though, are both graduated.

But guess what?

Little sister Angie has stepped right in.

Sophomore guard Angie Kirchoff scored 9 points while senior Nicole Collins and junior Maddie Bartz each added 7 for the Fillies in a 57-29 season-opening win over Jacobs in Algonquin.

In winning her 316th career game, coach Babbi Barreiro watched 12 of her 15 players make it into the scoring column, including 6 points from Alexa Resch.

"It's always nice to come out on top in your first game," Barreiro said. "We had a lot of kids contribute offensively and defensively, so I was happy about that."

Senior forward K.D. Madden led Barrington on the boards with 7 rebounds while Collins had 4. Sophomore Brooke Gunderson collected 3 steals and 2 assists.

Collins had to leave the game early in the third quarter when she was hit in the face while going up for a layup after making a steal off an inbounds pass. "She was popped in the nose pretty good," Barreiro said.

Collins, whose status for Thursday is unknown, is the Fillies' only returning starter.

Collins, Abby Taplett and Kirchoff each had 3-point baskets for the Fillies.

"Angie is very aggressive," Barreiro said after Kirchoff's varsity debut. "She's only a sophomore so obviously we're looking for nice things from her."

Barreiro couldn't help but think of one person as she opened her 19th season on Tuesday. Her father Jay died this summer.

He missed very few games since Babbi began coaching at Barrington in 1989.

"It definitely felt different," Babbi said. "He gave me so much support over the years. He'd been a voice of reason and support."

Schaumburg 61, Proviso West 58: Schaumburg started out with a win in its own tournament as 5-foot-11 senior Alyssa Saklak scored a game-high 23 points.

Freshman Jada Blackwell added 10 points in her varsity debut while sophomore Madison Laramie and senior Kelly Skorczewski both added 7 for the Saxons.

Niles West 49, Hersey 32: Senior Jewell Lloyd, one of the top players in the nation, scored a game-high 30 points as Niles West won the nonconference matchup in Skokie.

"She's amazing," said Huskies coach Mary Fendley. "She is an incredible shooter."

Forward Renee Poulos scored 8 points to lead Hersey while guard Jen Hall added 8.

Maine South 60, Wheeling 38: Freshman guard Deanna Kuzmanic scored 21 points with 5 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist in her varsity debut for the Wildcats.

Her sister Kellie added 7 points and 7 rebounds against the state-ranked Hawks in Park Ridge.