Girls basketball: Barrington battles but can’t take down Hersey

With a logjam of teams at the top of the Mid-Suburban League's East Division standings, host Hersey needed another victory against Barrington on Thursday night to keep pace with Fremd and Prospect.

It wasn't easy for the Huskies against the pesky Fillies. But in the end they got the job done with a 51-40 MSL East victory despite numerous comeback attempts by Barrington in the second half.

Hersey (13-5, 5-1) stormed out to an early 12-3 lead on a 3-pointer by Ellie Molster. But the Fillies (7-12, 1-5) cut the lead to 25-24 as senior Maddie Anderle (all 8 points in first half) hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer.

The Huskies never trailed in the contest, and they started to pull away as a free throw by Molster tied their biggest lead at 42-30 late in the third quarter. A 3-point play by Barrington's Ayla Allen (9 points, 5 rebounds) cut the lead to 42-33 after three quarters.

Then Allen added two free throws before a driving basket by teammate Simra Alam (5 points) to cut the lead to 42-37 with 6:40 to play.

But that was as close as the Fillies would get. Two baskets by Hersey's Lexi Miyares (10 points) boosted the lead to 46-37 with 3:03 to play. Senior Kate Donovan (6 assists) scored a team-high 13 points for the Huskies while junior Isla Koertner scored all of her team-high 12 points in the first half for Barrington.

"It was a good battle. They came ready to play and they shot the ball really well," said Hersey coach Courtney Ludois, whose team defeated the Fillies 43-26 in the first meeting on Dec. 5. "But I thought we really executed on defense in the second half and their shooters (Koertner and Anderle) had zero points in the second half after having 20 points in the first half so I was happy about that."

Hersey center Sadie Marks had 8 points, but she was plagued by foul trouble before fouling out with 2:38 to play. Hersey's Etta Fischer scored 5 points while teammate Emily Hany added 4 points.

"I think in the first half of the game we weren't hitting anything and they were hitting all their shots," said Donovan. "In the second half we adjusted. I think their two 3-pointer shooters had zero 3s, and I think it was our defense that led to our offense."

Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro was happy with the effort and tenacity her squad showed.

"The last time we played them they ran us out of the gym. We were missing Lily (Richmond) our starting all-conference center tonight, and I thought our kids responded really magnificently to be honest with you," Barreiro said. "We were a little nervous in the beginning of the game with a little bit of a slow start. But I thought they really bounced back well, we competed here, and we're very capable of playing this kind of basketball."