Hoffman Estates fifth at Mundelein
Hoffman Estates ended the 2009 portion of its schedule with an impressive victory Saturday in the fifth-place game of the 16-team Mundelein Christmas tournament.
With all-tourney selections Jada Stotts scoring 18 points and Megan Bernardoni 10, the Hawks prevailed on a pair of free throws from Bernardoni with 16 seconds left accounting for the final score of 41-39.
"It's nice that we get all the scoring from Jada, Megan and Precious (Ogunleye)," said Hawks coach Mike Nocella. "But Kelsey (Lukowicz) and Mary (Pettit) have given us unbelievable floor presence. They did all the little things that help us win, too."
And the Hawks (12-4) have been winning like no other time this season. They have reeled off wins in seven of their last eight contests, including Saturday's triumph over a Zee-Bees team that was 12-2 coming onto the game.
The Zee-Bees missed three shots in the final six seconds, including a 3-pointer and two putbacks.
Zion-Benton led 20-19 at the break but Bernardoni hit a 3-pointer to start the second half.
"That (3-pointer) got us going," Nocella said. "We're starting to put it together. Zion-Benton is a good team but our kids played with their hearts and really finished the game. I'm really happy with how we're playing defense."
Stotts pulled down 10 rebounds while Ogunleye had 7 and Pettit 5. Bernardoni dished out 5 assists.
Streamwood 38, Conant 34 (OT): Senior Kim Davis, who was named to the all-tourney team at Mundelein, led the Cougars (5-10) with 10 points.
Rolling Meadows 37, Grant 34: Junior Madelynn Conlin led the Mustangs (7-7) with 18 points in the Mundelein tourney game.
Prospect 64, Hononegah 62 (OT): Prospect (11-2) opened up the Dundee-Crown tournament with defense serving as the key.
Junior Sarah Hunt had 2 of her 5 steals in the final minute of regulation and another in overtime to keep Knights alive.
Her steal in overtime along with 2 big free-throws (4-for-4 for the game) helped seal the deal. She finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
Sarah Winans, who added 14 points, got a steal with under 30 seconds to go in overtime to give Prospect a 4-point lead.
The Knights had 17 steals, including 2 or more from each starter.
Ashley Wabik, a consistent player off the Knights' bench, finished with 7 points, including a late 3-point basket that gave the Knights a lead. She later had a putback to tie the game at 60-60 in overtime.
At Loyola
Niles West 52, Barrington 36: For about half the game, Barrington team hung taught against Niles West in the Suburban Holiday Showcase at Loyola Academy in Wilmette.
But the Wolves took advantage of some Fillies' mistakes and handed Barrington a 52-36 loss.
The Fillies (8-7) trailed the Wolves 25-23 at the break.
But the Wolves (15-2) outscored the Fillies 13-3 and led 38-26 at the end of the third quarter - and the Fillies couldn't recover.
"We struggled a little bit out of the locker room as far as the intensity goes," said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. "Offensively, we were not effective in general. I thought we were standing around a little bit. We made some bad decisions and Niles West changed their defense a bit. I thought we were our own worst enemy."
Abby Kirchoff led the Fillies with a team-high 19 points and 3 steals.
The Fillies arrived late to Loyola and the game started an hour later than the noon scheduled time because the team bus was involved in a minor accident with a car outside of Barrington. There were no reported injuries in the accident.
The Fillies play Lake Zurich at 4 p.m. Monday at Trinity, while Niles West faces Stevenson for the championship at 5:30 p.m.
- Rusty Silber