Barrington rolls with it, wins at BG
Early in the season, Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro says she expects to see her team hit some bumps in the road.
The Fillies found one midway through the third quarter Friday when they fell behind Buffalo Grove by 12 points.
That’s when the veteran coach called for a timeout.
After the pit stop, the Fillies came out with their engines blazing.
They kept reducing the lead and finally soared past the Bison for a 52-47 triumph in the fourth round of the Bison Classic.
“We just found some energy,” said senior guard Nicole Collins, who sparked the Fillies by hitting 2 free throws and a bucket during an 8-0 run following the timeout. “We started crashing the boards on offense and started making our little baskets.”
Collins made some long ones, too, in the first half when she hit a pair of 3-pointers. She finished with a game-high 21 points, converting 9-of-10 free throws in the second half.
Senior Emily Cho (team-high 15 points) stopped the Fillies’ 8-0 run when she drove for a layup with five seconds left in the third quarter to give the Bison a 37-31 lead.
But Barrington (3-2) kept the pressure on in the final eight minutes.
Two free throws by Collins tied the game at 42 and the Fillies gained their first lead of the half when sophomore Brooke Gunderson rebounded a missed shot and tossed in a 6-footer for a 44-42 advantage with 1:25 left.
“Coach told us we had too many turnovers in the first half,” said Collins, who also had 4 rebounds and 3 steals. “We cut down on them in the second half.”
BG (1-3) tied it again at 44 when 5-foot-3 sophomore guard Kim Herzog (12 points) hustled to the boards to rebound a missed free throw and put in a layup with 55 ticks left.
But Barrington nudged ahead for good on a free throw by Collins with 46.7 seconds.
The Fillies went up 47-44 when senior K.D. Madden (4 points, 4 rebounds) made a layup with 36 seconds half.
Gunderson then came up with a big steal. She was quickly fouled and made her 2 free throws for 49-44 cushion.
Barrington got the lead to 52-44 before Cho hit her third 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“Emily found some range from the outside,” said Bison coach Pat Dudle. “We’ll need points from her so hopefully she continues to do that.
“The difference in the game was Barrington’s ability to get second chances. They grabbed a lot of offensive rebounds and we didn’t finish the defensive boards. We also turned the ball over too much in the fourth quarter.”
BG junior center Bailey North scored 8 of her 10 points in the first half while teammates Carly Cheever added 6 first-half points and Morgan Angotti had a bucket in the first and third quarters.
“We are still young and inexperienced,” Dudle said. “So we are learning from the good competition we are facing (including state-ranked Maine South on Saturday).”
Junior Maddie Bartz chipped in 11 points and 6 rebounds for Barrington while sophomore Angie Kirchoff and junior Alexa Resch had 5 apiece.
“It was a great comeback,” Barreiro said. “I love this team because the girls keep working hard.
“We made some youthful mistakes but as the game went on we got better and we got the ball back in Nicole’s (Collins) hands.”