Collective effort helps Barrington to victory at Wheeling

No one scored in double figures for Barrington's girls basketball team on Tuesday night at Wheeling.

But when you're playing good defense, you can still leave the gymnasium on a positive note.

That's how Barrington's Babbi Barreiro, the dean of Mid-Suburban League coaches, saw things after her team's 38-29 crossover triumph.

"It's one of those games where you'll take the 'W' if you get it," she said. "Our kids didn't execute that well. I will say that Angie Kirchoff (5-foot-10 sophomore guard) did a good job on their big scorer (5-10 senior guard-forward Kellie Kuzmanic) in the second half.

"We were able to put pressure on them defensively and a lot of it had to do with Angie and getting help from her teammates."

"It was team effort," said Fillies senior guard Natasha Singh, whose 3-pointer in the first quarter tied the game at 9-9. "It was good to see we all could contribute points (eight different girls) and play together as a team."

Unfortunately for Wheeling, its playmaker and leading scorer Deanna Kuzmanic, who has two 20-point games this season, suffered an ankle injury with 51 seconds left in the first half.

She tried to return in the third quarter but came off the floor in less than two minutes. Wildcats coach Julissa Hernandez said the talented freshman point guard rolled her ankle.

"Hopefully she can be back in a few days," Hernandez said. "But we'll have to see."

Kirchoff led the Fillies with 9 points while senior Nicole Collins (3 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists) and junior Alexa Resch (7 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists) each added 8 points.

Kellie Kuzmanic's rebound layup with 1:16 left in the first half sent the Wildcats into intermission leading 18-16.

However, Barrington scored the first 12 points of third quarter and never trailed. Senior Leah Malsom's 16-footer just right of the free throw stripe halted the run.

Resch answered right back with a spin move in the lane for a 6-footer and 30-20 advantage.

Wheeling was able to pull to within 32-29 when Malsom hit 2 free throws with five minutes left but Barrington blanked the Wildcats the rest of the way.

"Our shots and free throws were not falling," Hernandez said. "But defensively, I felt we held our own."

Kellie Kuzmanic pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds along with her 7 first-half points while Malsom finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds.

Freshman Hailey Dammeier and Hannah Drobowski each chipped in 5 points for the Wildcats (1-6).

Fremd 49, Hersey 41: Hersey threw a scare at undefeated Fremd on Tuesday night in Arlington Heights but the Vikings recovered for a 49-41 triumph at the Ken Carter Gymnasium.

Senior Jessi Wiedemann (16 points) and freshman Haley Gorecki (13) led the Vikings (5-0), who were held to under 50 points for the first time this season.

The Huskies (2-3) trailed by 13 in the second but rallied for a 3-point lead early in the fourth quarter before the Vikes re-rallied and made 10-of-11 free throws in the final quarter.

Junior guard Ashley McConnell chipped in 8 points for Fremd, including 3-of-4 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Jen Hall led the Huskies with 16 points while Maggie Hogen added 7. Corinne Busby and Meg Cerniglia each chipped in 5.

"We did a really nice job against their zone defense," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley. "The girls were really patient and able to work for some good shots. After that big turnaround from being down 13 and going up 3, we just ran out of gas. But I'm really proud of how they played against a very good team."

Prospect 51, Schaumburg 40: Junior guard Michele Molini led Prospect (4-2) with 14 points, including three 3-point baskets in the first half.

"Michele came out firing," said Prospect coach Martha Kelly. "She had 11 points in the first quarter. That really set the tone and changed what Schaumburg had to do defensively, The came out of their zone and went man-to-man."

Senior Maura Benson added 10 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocked shots and 3 steals for the Knights.

"Maura was very aggressive on defense," said Knights coach Martha Kelly. "She was all over the place. It was her best game of the season."

Kelly said the Knights came out full of energy.

"That was one of the keys we wanted to set the tone early, especially with it being our first home game," she said. "The girls did a great job defensively and on boards following the game plan."

Taylor Will chipped in 8 points for the Knights followed by Andriane Falagrio (7), Christina Brucci (6) and Jessica Petrovski (6).

Alyssa Saklak led Schaumburg (2-4) with 10 points while Kiley Williams had 6.

Rolling Meadows 56, Hoffman 45: Senior Anne Marie Lynch and sophomore Alexis Glasgow each scored 16 points while sophomore Jackie Kemph added 15 for Rolling Meadows which evened its record at 3-3.

Hoffman, which led 17-16 at half, was led by junior Destinee Young's 19 points. Senior guard Sara Burns (9 points) hit 3 3-pointers for the Hawks (1-4).

Conant 36, BG 33: Senior forward Natalie Kutrames (14 points) scored 8 points with 6-of-6 free throws in the final quarter to help lead the Cougars (2-5).

Freshman guard Katie Lomas added 9 points while Sarah Mazurek added 5 for Conant.

BG (1-5) was led by Bailey North (10 points), Emily Cho (9) and Kim Herzog (9).

Elk Grove 37, Palatine 29: Junior Diamond Boyd (9 points), sophomore Melissa Solorio (8), junior Kelly Naughton (7) and freshman Amber Lindfors (6) led host Elk Grove (3-2).

Katelyn Mayer (11 points), McKenzie Wiedemann (8) and Nia Pappas (6) paced Palatine (5-2). Pappas had 2 3-pointers for the Pirates while Kari Czeszewski had one for Elk Grove.

Maine South 52, Maine West 34: Senior guard Amanda Hoye scored a game-high 15 points for the Warriors (0-5) while sophomore Brittany Collins collected 10 rebounds with 8 points.

St. Viator 53, Gordon Tech 37: Erin Fabbri (16 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 assists) and Lauren Rooney (9 points, 11 rebounds, 5 blocks, 5 assists) led the Lions (4-2) in Arlington Heights. Teammates Katie Gavin and Mallory Hess each chipped in 6 points.

"On the defensive end of the floor we had another solid team effort holding our opponent under 40 points," said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness. "The girls did a terrific job of rotating, blocking some key shots, and scrapping for a lot of loose balls."

Eleven different players scored for St. Viator.

"It is always nice to win at home, especially the home opener," Bjerkness added. "Once again we had a balanced attack on the offensive end of the floor."

Hiawatha 41, Christina Liberty 21: Guard Jess Moriarty led CLA with 8 points.