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Girls basketball: Hersey gets back on track with win at Barrington

Tough opponents make tough teams.

Hersey came into Monday night's Mid-Suburban League crossover at Barrington with losses in two of their last three games.

Those losses were to teams (undefeated Huntey and Montini) with a combined record of 17-4.

"When you play real high-level teams, you build from it and you grow," said 5-foot-6 junior guard Kate Donovan, who scored a game-high 17 points with 5 steals in a 52-38 win. "They were fun games against teams with lots of talent."

The Huskies (8-4) showed their talents on Monday, breaking a 4-4 tie when coach Courtney Ludois called for a full-court press.

The visitors quickly capitalized on a handful of turnovers and went on an 8-0 run, starting with sophomore Sadie Marks (12 points) grabbing her own rebound and putting it back. Donovan's quick dribble toward the lane and pull-up 8-footer made it 8-4 before the junior standout came back with a steal off the press for another layup.

After another turnover, 6-foot freshman Etta Fischer drove for a layup and Hersey led 12-4 with 3:10 left.

"Our defense really dictates our defense," said Donovan, who has received Division I interest. "We are a defensive team and we've actually been struggling to score our last couple of games. I think our defense motivates our offense."

"Kate Donovan had a great game," Ludois said. "She handled the ball against a lot of pressure from their defense. And she kind of took over when we needed her to."

By the end of the quarter, Barrington (4-7) was able to get within 14-9, thanks to Isla Koertner's first of two 3-pointers and a driving lefty layup by Ashley Mahlum with 19 seconds left.

Barrington grabbed its last lead of the game when Mahlum made a steal and tossed the ball upcourt to Maya Paniak who converted a layup for a 17-16 lead in the second quarter.

But Marks answered with a fastbreak layup and the Huskies never trailed again.

Senior guard Grace Grabowy added 7 points and 5 steals for Hersey.

"To me, that's our identity, getting after it, playing hard and turning people over," Ludois said. "I thought our energy on defense was awesome and that's what kept us in the game."

The Fillies got to within 24-22 in the final two minutes, thanks to a 3-pointer by Mahlum.

But the Huskies got an 8-foot pull-jumper from Donovan and took advantage of another turnover off its press that resulted in Ellie Molster's 6-footer with 12 seconds left to lead 28-22 at intermission.

The Huskies' press got rolling again to start the second half. Baskets by Donovan (3-pointer), Marks, Emily Hany (7 points) and Kiki Craft (4 points) led to a 9-0 run for a 37-22 cushion and the Fillies never got closer than 10 points.

"We have to play better together," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "We knocked down some shots in key moments and got ourselves back in the game but we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some poor decisions.

"We gave them too many offensive rebounds. They beat us up on the boards pretty well. They're a good team and you can't let a good team do that. And obviously we have to take better care of the basketball."

Paniak led the Fillies with 10 points (two 3-pointers), followed by Mahlum (9) and Koertner (7).

"We are kind of still trying to find our way as to who is going to step up in key moments,“ Barreiro said. "We'll get there. This should have been a much tighter game. But their press forced us into several turnovers. Also, in my opinion, our errant passing in the half-court forced us into too many turnovers, too."

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