It all adds up for East champ Rolling Meadows
Tuesday’s Mid-Suburban East girls basketball game at Rolling Meadows wasn’t the first time public address announcer Mike Concialdi pronounced the names of Mustangs’ seniors Jackie Kemph, Allie Kemph and Jenny Vliet.
He’s also called their names in his advanced placement math class, where they all received As in the first semester.
On this snowy night, Concialdi watched the Mustangs earn an A+ on the basketball floor.
With a division title hanging in the balance, the Mustangs added a third straight East crown to their resume with a 65-35 clinching victory over visiting Prospect.
Rolling Meadows (21-3, 9-0) will play at Fremd (21-3, 9-0), the MSL West winner, a week from today for the league championship.
Jackie Kemph scored a game-high 22 points followed by Vliet (16) and senior Alexis Glasgow (11) for the state’s No. 3 ranked Class 4A team.
“You’ve got to give credit to Rolling Meadows,” said Prospect coach Ashley Graham, whose team is 20-5 and 6-3. “That is an outstanding basketball team. Besides that, Ryan (Kirkorsky, head coach) has them so prepared. It’s a tribute to him and his program.”
The Mustangs, who led 35-34 at intermission when they defeated Prospect 69-50 in early January, were set on coming out stronger this time.
“We had a slow start the last time we played them,” said Vliet, who pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. “So were determined to come out strong and that’s what helped us. Our defensive effort led to our offense. We worked a lot on that in practice.”
Kemph, as usual, worked her way inside with eye-popping dashes to the basket, scoring 14 points before intermission as the hosts led 34-14.
“The No. 1 thing is that defensively, we felt our kids executed the game plan,” Kirkorsky said. “Everyone talks about our offense. And we have some offensive stars.
“But we talked to the kids before the game about the game coming down to defense.”
The 35 points tied a season-low for Prospect.
“We came out ready to go this game,” said Jackie Kemph, who had 8 assists and 2 steals. “We just never gave up on defense. That’s what makes me most proud.”
Senior Ashley Montanez grabbed 6 rebounds for the Mustangs.
Prospect was led by junior Taylor Will (17 points), who was one of four girls on the floor who have scored 1,000 points in their careers (Jackie Kemph, Glasgow and Vliet the others).
“Prospect is a great team,” Kirkorsky said. “Our kids went into the game knowing they had a chance to clinch the division and that got them focused.”
Catherine Sherwood added 7 points and Mallory Gonzales 5 for the Knights, who tied the game at 4-4 on Will’s 3-pointer with 5:10 left in the first quarter.
But Meadows went on a 15-2 run, capped by Jackie Kemph’s drive to the basket for a 19-6 lead early in the second quarter.
“I would have liked to seen a little more fight from us,” Graham said “We have to come back to practice (today) and make the choice that we are always going to fight no matter who we are playing.”