Collins' big 2nd half lifts Barrington
Barrington senior Nicole Collins quietly blended in with the rest of her teammates in the first half of Friday night's Mid-Suburban West girls basketball game with visiting Conant.
Collins stood out loud and clear in the second half. She scored the Fillies' first 11 points and 17 of her career-high 23 after intermission in their 48-41 victory.
"In the first half I wasn't warmed up," Collins said after she eclipsed her previous high of 20 points. "In the second half I was out there looking to score. I was looking for steals to get easy layups."
Collins missed 5 of her first 7 shots but made her last eight attempts from the field. The Fillies (5-4, 1-1) never trailed as they shot 58.3 percent (21-for-36) and Collins had 4 rebounds of their 23-14 advantage.
"She really took over," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro after getting a nice birthday present with the victory. "I think she's such a special basketball player. She explodes to the basket and she's quick.
"I thought she did a nice job of being a leader and putting the team on her back in some critical situations."
One of those came after Conant (4-6, 1-1) got within 25-19 on a short jumper by Katie Lomas. A defender backed off from Collins and she hit the only 3 attempted by Barrington in the game to start a 15-6 surge.
Collins' sweet underhanded, left-handed scoop on a drive gave her 15 of the Fillies' first 17 second-half points and a 40-25 lead with 5:58 to play.
"I knew we had to come out and get a (bigger) lead," Collins said. "I just took it to them pretty much."
Barrington also got 6 points from Angie Kirchoff (5 rebounds) and K.D. Madden and 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists from Alexa Resch as it built a 46-30 lead with 2:08 left.
"We've been very up and down lately but I thought in this game moved a step forward," Collins said.
"I thought we did a nice job in the first half against (Natalie) Kutramanes," Barreiro said. "We're young and we made some nice plays and we made some mistakes coming down the stretch."
Kutramanes scored 8 of her 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting in the second half and had 8 rebounds as Conant had a three-game winning streak snapped.
The Cougars missed their first 12 attempts from 3-point range before Sarah Mazurek (11 points) hit three in a row to cut the deficit to 46-36 with 1:42 left.
Conant shot 40.5 percent from the field (15-for-37) and was 3-for-17 on 3s.
"We committed (17) turnovers, we were impatient with our shots and they capitalized on it," said Conant coach Dan Travers. "I thought we beat ourselves. We fought hard and competed but we have to stop making mistakes."
And Collins made sure the Cougars didn't spoil Barreiro's day.
"We really needed the win," Collins said of the MSL West race. "Plus it's her birthday so we wanted to get a win for her, too."