Girls basketball: Rolling Meadows cruises to title at Hoffman Estates

With senior Abby Rammel scoring all 10 of her points, Rolling Meadows got off to a good start, leading Dyett (Chicago) 21-4 after one quarter.

It got even better in the second quarter, with classmate Maggie Schoessling scoring all of her team-high 12 points in the final 3:30 of the first half for a 43-21 cushion en route to a 64-23 triumph and championship (4-0) of the 12th annual Tom Kendall Thanksgiving Tournament at Hoffman Estates High School.

"I thought that group we had on the floor in the second quarter (sophomore Meghan Riggi, sophomore Cara Cruz, sophomore Anna Andriano, junior Iris Jordan and Schoessling) really put things away,“ RM coach Ryan Kirkorsky said. ”They did a nice job."

Andriano finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds while Jordan scored 5 points (one 3-pointer) in the first half and Riggi had 4 steals in the game.

In all, 10 different Mustangs put the ball in the basket.

"It was nice to get contributions from a lot of kids," said Kirkorsky, whose team is scheduled to visit Larkin on Saturday for a 10 a.m. nonconference game.

Also scoring points for Meadows were freshman Brynley Heffernan (7 points), Cruz, freshman Bria Hugen, freshman Kate Andriano (2 assists, one 3-pointer) and freshman Taylor Rammel, the sister of Abby, who scored 5 points.

Schoessling's 12 points came in the final 3:40 of the first half. She was just 1 point shy of her career-high 13.

"Maggie is just solid," Kirkorsky said. "We ask her to do a lot of different things. Sometimes she plays more of a post position. Sometimes she's a guard. She's kind of one of those multi-faceted players who we really need to be successful this season."

So far, so good.

"We've been playing together really well," Abby Ramel said. "It's pretty cool to win this tournament. I think today we just came out really strong in the first quarter and I think that was really important. Everyone was passing the ball and if someone was open, everyone was making the extra pass. I feel like the past four games we've just been making the extra pass and I think that's why as a team we are able to score so much (more than 60 points in the last three games)."

"The key has been the talent and all the work we've put in at practice," added Schoessling, who also had 2 assists. "We have a lot of experience this season and I think our hard work has been paying off."

Senior guard Rajeh Gardner led coach Kevin Wallace's Dyett (Chicago) Eagles who were playing their first game of the season. Gardner scored 17 points with a career-best four 3-pointers, all in the second quarter.

Host Hoffman Estates notched its first win of the season with a 45-10 triumph over Ogden International (Chicago). Coach Brad Reibel's Hawks were led by freshman guard Kaleah Ward's 13 points followed by sophomore guard Carmella Calabrese (11), sophomore guard Nadia Thomas (8) and junior guard Molly Bell (6 points, two 3-pointers).