Girls basketball: Mahlum’s 26 points helps Barrington avenge Conant loss
Looking to avenge an earlier loss at Conant, Barrington's girls basketball team got off to fast first quarter Tuesday night and never looked back in a 40-30 Mid-Suburban West victory on Teacher Appreciation Night.
Senior Ashley Mahlum got off to a great start with a pair of 3-points in the first half and went on to lead the Fillies (13-15, 6-4) with a career-high 26 points.
"It was just ball movement and everyone making their right cuts," Mahlum said of her big game which also included 6 rebounds and 2 assists. "It was making sure we didn't take shots that weren't there and looking for the next person.
"This time (as opposed to the 47-42 loss at Conant) we did a really good job moving the ball. We were really unselfish. Everyone was involved and we played really smart. I'm really proud of us."
The Fillies were nursing a 7-4 lead when Mahlum went back-to-back with a 3-point play and a 3-pointer to give the hosts a 13-6 lead after one period.
Malhum then scored the first Fillies' 8 points of the second quarter, three consecutive layups and 2 free throws, as the Barrington raced ahead 21-8 with 2:20 left until half.
"I thought Malhum played a fabulous game," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "She was just really hungry and being smart offensively with her decisions. And defensively she got her hands on the ball quite a bit, too."
Isla Koertner scored the Fillies' final 4 points of the half with a 17-footer and a layup with eight seconds left to send the hosts into the locker room with a 25-9 cushion.
Lily Richmond sparked the Fillies' defense in the first 16 minutes with 5 steals and 3 blocked shots.
Mahlum had 8 more points in the third quarter as the Fillies led 36-19 heading into the fourth period. Senior Maya Panlak (5 points) hit a big 3-pointer for Barrington in the third period.
Kanna Bradarich scored 6 of Conant's 10 points in the third quarter while Arianna Dugo and Annabel Danso (9 points) had the other two.
Conant plugged away at the Fillies' lead in the final quarter. Bradarich's 3-point play with 1:55 left got the Cougars to within 38-30.
Mahlum and teammate Vidi Trivedi each had free throws in the final 44 seconds.
"We've got to close out things a little better," Barreiro said. "Sometimes we make some careless passes.
"But until the fourth quarter when I felt we just froze up a little bit, I felt we were just calmer this time than the first time we played them. Offensively we ran a better offense than the first time and defensively I thought we did some better things. We were able to turn them over quite a bit in the first half."
Conant (13-12, 6-4) was led by Bradarich's 17 points including 7-of-7 free throws in the second half.
"Definitely an off-night shooting," said Conant coach Todd Strauch. "But we work hard and that's what we got on them about at halftime. We didn't think we played as hard as we could in the first half and in the second we did play hard. But when you dig yourself that big of a hole, you've got to knock down shots and we didn't tonight."