Second-half surge lifts Hersey

At halftime of the Mid-Suburban East girls basketball game between Buffalo Grove and Hersey, the score was tied.

After jumping out to a 10-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, Hersey faltered in the second. The Huskies got into foul trouble and sent the Bison to the free throw line for 11 attempts in the second frame, which presented an opportunity for Buffalo Grove to climb back into the game.

In the second half, though, Hersey unleashed a different weapon — its press. The Huskies swarmed Buffalo Grove, and the resulting turnovers helped push the Huskies to a 40-29 home victory.

“I like to hold on to the press for the second half sometimes, just to not give them time to talk about it,” Hersey coach Mary Fendley said. “The girls did great. Our defense was really good in the first half too. It’s just that we fouled too much.”

Hersey (12-8, 3-2) held Buffalo Grove to 7 made field goals for the game.

In addition to its defense, there was a second reason for Hersey’s second-half success: guard Jen Hall.

“We said we wanted to start out strong in the second half, and we did a great job of that,” Hall said.

Hall did not score a point in the first half, but finished the contest with a game-high 19 points.

“My team ran the plays right, and got everybody open by setting good screens,” Hall said. “Our press really sparked our offense. It was just a really good game overall.”

Guard Corinne Busby was all over the place for Hersey, proving pesky by constantly bothering Buffalo Grove’s (4-15, 1-5) ballhandlers. Busby also had 8 points. The Huskies also got two noteworthy performances from forwards Meg Cerniglia (2 points, 9 rebounds), and Maggie Hogen (1 point, 10 rebounds).

Buffalo Grove senior guard Emily Cho (11 points, 9 rebounds) paced the Bison offensively, but they couldn’t sustain enough consistent possessions to pull out a victory.

“I thought we played very hard on the defensive end, and that kept us in the ballgame,” Buffalo Grove coach Pat Dudle said. “But we need to have more composure in handling the basketball, and be mentally strong when teams change things up.”

Bailey North had 6 points and 5 rebounds for the Bison.