Palatine’s defense delivers again
Defense has been the name of the game for Palatine’s girls basketball team all season, and the Pirates came up with another top-notch performance on Tuesday night.
Playing in the third-place Mid-Suburban League crossover game, the Pirates stopped visiting Wheeling 36-23 for their fifth straight win.
It was 1 point shy of Palatine’s top defensive game, when it held Crystal Lake South to 22 points three months ago.
Junior McKenzie Wiedemann led the Pirates with 13 points while Nia Pappas chipped in 11 and Katelyn Mayer 8.
Palatine (18-10) held the Wildcats to 1 basket in the first and third quarters.
Senior Kellie Kuzmanic led Wheeling (10-17) with 12 points.
Barrington 34, Hersey 28: Senior Nicole Collins (8 points) and sophomore Angie Kirchhoff (7) led host Barrington (13-17).
Top rebounders for the Fillies were K.D. Madden (10 rebounds) and Alexa Resch (9 rebounds, 4 steals).
“K.D. Madden did a nice job defending Maggie Hogen and got backside help from Alexa (Resch),” said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. “Between the two of them they did a real nice job.
“We played solid defense. And we made them work for most of their shots. I didn’t think we gave them a lot of easy looks.”
It was the final home game for the Barrington seniors.
“So it was nice to get a win and go into the playoffs on a high note,” Barreiro said. “We’ll have our work cut out and we have to get down to business. It’s a fun time of season if you are working hard and being focused, which we will try to be.”
Maggie Hogen (9 points), Jen Hall (8 points) and Corinne Busby (7) led Hersey (16-13).
Hoffman Estates 57, Buffalo Grove 43: Becca Stoczynski (18 points, 7 rebounds), Mary Pettit (11 points, 7 assists), Destinee Young (14 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists) and Sara Burns (12 points, 2 3-pointers) led the host Hawks (11-16) to their second straight win.
“We played well,” said Hoffman coach Mike Nocella “We got everyone into the game and now we get ready for the state tournament.
“It’s nice to build momentum for that. That was our goal. Shante Hill and Andrea Wolinski did a real good job defensively off the bench.”
Bailey North (14 points), Emily Cho (9) and Courtney Meyer (9) led Buffalo Grove (5-23).
Elk Grove 39, Conant 26; Visiting Elk Grove (13-13) was led by Diamond Boyd (16 points), Melissa Solorio (8), Kelly Naughton (7) and Amber Lindfors (6).
Katie Lomas (10 points), Natalie Kutrumanes (8) and Allie Bauch (6) paced Conant (8-19).
CLA 67, St. Martin de Porres 12: Freshman Jess Moriarty (17 points) and Jayna Rowland (13) led Christian Liberty Academy (15-12) to victory in its opening game of the Class 1A Westminster Christian regional in Elgin.
The No. 2-seeded Chargers will face No. 3 Harvest Christian in the semifinals today at 6 p.m.
Harvest Christian edged Woodlands Academy 32-31 on Tuesday.