Resilient Elk Grove tops Buffalo Grove in OT
Talk about being resilient.
Elk Grove’s girls basketball team found that quality on Tuesday night on its home floor.
Buffalo Grove raced ahead 19-5 after one quarter.
So heading into the second period, the Grens were in a position where they couldn’t afford to keep surrendering points to a Bison squad which appeared full of energy.
What did the hosts do?
They gave up no points the next eight minutes.
The Grens still trailed 19-11 at intermission but the momentum from that defensive surge carried into the second half and then overtime.
After surviving BG’s final attempt to win the game on a 15-footer that rimmed away, the Grens came out on fire in overtime to escape with a 45-37 triumph in the Mid-Suburban East game.
“I was scared,” admitted Grens junior point guard Kelly Naughton after watching BG senior guard Emily Cho (13 points) fire home three 3-pointers in the first quarter to help lift the Bison (4-14, 1-4) to their big early advantage.
“But coach K (Ryan Kirkorsky) just told us to trust ourselves, our teammates and what he wanted us to do.”
Trust paid off as the Grens (10-7, 2-3) continually chipped away at the Bison lead and finally tied the game at 31-31 on freshman Amber Lindfors’ 3-point play with 6:29 left in regulation.
Cho, who fouled out with 3:50 left in regulation, gave BG its last lead at 33-31 when she wove through defenders for a layup with 5:15 left .
Diamond Boyd’s big drive from the free-throw stripe resulted in a layup to tie the game at 33-33.
The Grens then got their first lead at 35-33 on 2 free throws with 4:35 left by Lindfors. The 6-foot-4 freshman came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 7 rebounds.
“She is great for us in the post,” Naughton said. “To have a tall person to dish off to is great.”
“Amber had one of her best games at both ends of the floor,” Kirkorsky said
BG refused to give way, and tied the game at 35-35 when Carley Cheever hit 2 free throws with 1:30 left.
After an Elk Grove turnover with 17 seconds left, BG got the ball back but Boyd (team-high 18 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals) rebounded the missed 15-footer just before the buzzer to send the game to an extra session.
Naughton went right to work, getting her fifth steal near half-court and sweeping in for a layup and 37-35 lead.
EG would never trail again as Lindfors pulled down the rebound on BG’s next possession and then Kari Czeszewski followed with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
“Huge 3-pointer by Kari,” Kirkorsky said. “Kelly (Naughton, who had 6 points) and Melissa (Solorio, who had 11 rebounds and 5 steals) both had solid games. And for Diamond (14 points in the second half), it was just a matter of getting the game to come to her. That’s when she figures out a way to score.”
Two free throws by Kim Herzog with 2:02 left gave BG its only points in the extra session. cutting the lead to 40-37.
EG closed with the final 5 points, getting 2 free throws from Solorio, one from Boyd and a rebound layup by Solorio with 25 seconds left.
Bailey North also had 13 points for BG. The junior center also pulled down 11 rebounds.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing forward,” said North, who has scored in double figures in all but two games. “We’ve got to put this game behind us and look forward to playing hard in the second half of conference play.”
Bison coach Pat Dudle liked how his team played hard for 36 minutes Tuesday.
“I’m not happy with the loss,” he said. “But I’m happy with the effort. After inconsistency with our intensity last week, we challenged the girls for this game.
“They responded by playing the entire four quarters and overtime with hard-nosed basketball. If we continue doing that, we’ll find victories.
“Credit Elk Grove. That was a nice comeback.”
“The biggest thing is that we told our girls the game is four quarters and to keep playing hard,” said Kirkorsky, whose team notched its second overtime win of the season (topped Conant 51-44 in double overtime two games ago).”