Rolling Meadows’ number up against Hersey
The number 2,868 appeared in big letters on the board in the Rolling Meadows locker room before Friday’s game.
“I didn’t know what it meant,” said the Mustangs Jackie Kemph. “But then when he (Meadows coach Todd Hatfield) told us, I couldn’t believe it.”
It had been 2,868 days since the Mustangs had defeated Hersey.
Kemph helped make sure that number didn’t increase with a big number of her own in the Mid-Suburban East showdown.
The sophomore guard equaled her career-high of 29 points while classmates Jenny Vliet and Alexis Glasgow each added 10 for the Mustangs in a 53-43 triumph over the visiting Huskies at the Forest View Educational Center.
“It was shocking when he told us,” Kemph said of Meadows’ last win over Hersey in the 2003-04 season. “Now we’re at zero (days). That was a long time. But this is a year of firsts for us.”
It’s the first time the Mustangs have been playing home games away from home.
While a new floor is being installed in the their gymnasium, the Mustangs have been practicing and playing home games at Forest View.
They’ve made themselves right at home, sporting a 3-0 record on the tartan floor.
Hersey coach Mary Fendley and her assistant Julia Barthel played on the Forest View floor when they starred in high school at Rolling Meadows and Elk Grove, respectively.
They watched their defending East champs (4-5, 1-1) get away to a 10-2 lead on Friday with the help of two 3-pointers from point guard Jen Hall.
But the Mustangs (7-3, 2-0) gradually chipped away at the deficit and gained their first lead at 13-12 when Vliet hit a 3 from the top of the key.
Hall kept the Huskies close as she connected for two more 3s in less than 1:30 to give Hersey its last lead at 18-17 with 2:03 left in the first half.
That’s when Meadows, taking advantage of its explosive fastbreak, went on a 12-2 run to take control.
Kemph’s 10-footer in the lane just beat the halftime buzzer and gave Meadows a 25-18 lead.
Kemph started the second half with a rebound layup. After 2 free throws by Corinne Busby, Kemph went back to work with a big circle drive from the top of the key for a layup and 29-20 lead.
“Great players find a way to make plays,” Hatfield said. “And Jackie made a lot of great plays.
“Hersey has a phenomenal program and that’s coach Mary Fendley. They still have that mental edge from what their program represents. We knew they would keep fighting even after we got that lead.”
Hall finished with 12 points, followed by Busby (10), Meg Cerniglia (8) and Renee Poulos (6).
“We executed really well in the first and fourth quarters and part of the third,” Fendley said. “But in that second quarter we kind of forgot the things we hoped to do.
“I thought we had a pretty good game plan but we weren’t consistent in doing what we wanted. Every time we didn’t have our safety back, they took advantage of it.”
Senior Anne Marie Lynch had some key second-quarter assists on the Meadows’ break.
“We just started pushing our offense there (second quarter) and Anne made some great passes, so it worked,” Kemph said.
A rebound bank shot by Ashley Raulli got Hersey to within 49-43 with 42 seconds left when Fendley called for a timeout. But Meadows converted 4-of-6 free throws in the final 23 seconds to seal the verdict.
“Now they and Prospect are in the driver’s seat (in the East),” Fendley said. “But we have a lot of games left. We are not going to give up yet. Maybe by the second half of the season we will be able to execute all four quarters.
“It was a very physical game. They had two girls on Maggie (Hogen, the Huskies talented senior forward) a lot of the time and I thought she handled it well.”