Monday's Dundee-Crown roundup

Going against five-time defending Dundee-Crown Charger Classic champion Fenwick, Fremd's girls basketball team never backed down Monday.

The Vikings just wish they could get back the first 12 minutes.

That's when they fell behind by 13 points and could never recover as the Friars finished with a 51-41 victory in the quarterfinal match.

Fenwick (14-1) will face Prospect (12-2) in today's semifinal.

Fremd (10-4) moves into the loser's bracket to face St. Charles North (9-5) at 3:30 p.m. The winner battles for the fifth place on Wednesday.

Just like it was 10 days ago in a 58-50 loss at Fremd, Fenwick was without All-American and Duke recruit Tricia Liston (mono).

But this time, the Friars had a new game plan.

"Our goal was to take away their perimeter shooting," said Fenwick coach Dave Power.

"It's been a big adjustment without Tricia but we're starting to come together," said sophomore forward Meredith Boardman, who scored 10 points for Fenwick. "We wanted to come out strong and not get down early like last time. Fenwick doesn't like to lose to the same team twice."

Senior Gianna Abruzzo poured in a game-high 24 points for Fremd, which trailed 24-11 midway through the second quarter.

In the second half, Abruzzo scored 16 of the Vikes' 24 points.

The other 5 points were a 3-pointer by freshman Ashley McConnell and 2 free throws by sophomore Megan Hubbard.

Fremd never got closer than 8 points in the second half.

"As close as we were, we never got close enough," said Abruzzo, who also grabbed 9 rebounds. "We could never chip away enough at that lead."

McConnell also pulled down 4 rebounds while Taylor Glassmann, Megan Gray and Hubbard each had two.

"I thought Gianna did a great job stepping up in the second half," said Fremd coach Dave Yates.

"They were definitely taller than us," said Abruzzo, who made 9 of 10 free throws in the game and scored 13 points in the final quarter. "What helped us in our win over them was that we knocked down our outside shots. This time, we needed another answer and we didn't find it until it was too late.

"But they're a real good team. I've got to give them credit. Even without (Liston), they are still a very tough team. They have adjusted well without her."

Yates felt the rough start for his team was costly.

"They (Fenwick) really got after us," he said. "But I thought we did a nice job hanging around right before half (6-0 run).

"You can't miss as many free throws as we did (8) in the second half and expect to hang around. We gave them a nice cushion to work with and that makes it tough.

"A lot of times when you play a team like Fenwick, you expect them to have big runs. They had one to start the game but we didn't give them any more so I was pleased with that."

Prospect 51, St. Charles North 39: Prospect's girl basketball team is back - in the final four.

For the first time in eight years, the Knights are in the semifinals of the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic.

Not since coach Mike Nocella guided the 2001 Knights to a fourth-place finish in the prestigious 16-team tourney has Prospect won its first two games at D-C.

Monday afternoon, with Jay Kyp-Johnson and Jim Hamann serving as co-coaches, Prospect posted a 51-39 victory over St. Charles North (9-5).

The Knights (12-2) will face defending tourney champion Fenwick (14-1) in today's 6:30 p.m. semifinal.

Head coach Martha Kelly is expected back today after missing Monday's game to attend funeral services for a family member in Iowa.

Kelly's team, consistently getting the ball inside for layups, was able to gradually pull away in the first quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers from junior Sarah Winans and senior Lexi Glennon put the Knights ahead 22-11 with 6:50 left in the second quarter.

The North Stars (9-5) charged back and trailed 26-24 at half, thanks to a 3-pointer from junior Sydney Russell with 35 seconds left in the second quarter.

But Prospect remained patient and poised in its offense and never let the North Stars get the lead in the final half when senior Rachel Hunt (7 rebounds) scored all 8 of her points.

Glennon led Prospect with 13 points while junior Sarah Hunt (7 rebounds) added 12. Junior Marissa Pettenuzzo added 9 points with 11 rebounds.

"The kids did a great job responding to our halftime adjustments," said Hamann, also the girls golf coach at Prospect. "They listened well and executed the game plan offensively."

Prospect shot all its free throws in the fourth quarter, converting 5 of 8.

Winans handed out 6 assists.

"One of our goals was to make the semifinals," Winans said. "This is exciting. We had to be patient against their zone. That's what it was all about, being patient.

"And we knew their point guard (senior Kiley Hackbarth, 6 points) was really fast and creates a lot for them. A big part of our game was getting rebounds and going. That's where we get a lot of layups."

The North Stars were led by senior Dana Sibley (9 points), senior Jenna Bell (8 points, 11 rebounds) and Russell (8 points).

"Prospect is a great basketball team," said St. Charles coach Colleen Brennan. "They did a great job adjusting to our defense. They saw the openings in our defense like good teams will do. I congratulate them."

The North Stars face Fremd at 3:30 today.

"Now we'll try to go 3-1 in the tournament," Brennan said. "We play every game one at a time."

New Trier 58, Bartlett 45: The Bartlett girls basketball team could only blame itself Monday night for being down by 10 to New Trier at halftime.

The Hawks committed 11 turnovers and missed 11 of 16 free-throw attempts in the opening half.

New Trier took advantage and went on to defeat Bartlett, 58-45, in the quarterfinals of the 27th annual Charger Classic in Carpentersville.

"We dug ourselves a hole and you don't want to do that against a good team," Hawks coach Denise Sarna said. "We're normally a really good free-throw shooting team. It just wasn't our day."

Bartlett (9-5), which had its five-game winning streak snapped, will play Naperville Central (12-1) at 5 p.m. today. The teams met during their Thanksgiving tournament with the Redhawks beating the Hawks 69-66 in overtime.

Jacki Gulczynski tried to keep the Hawks close. The junior scored 6 points in the first quarter and 10 in the first half. But Bartlett shot just 8 for 23 from the field and 5 for 16 from the free-throw line in the first half.

"We got out of sync," Sarna said. "At times we looked unorganized. We couldn't get into the flow of the game."

Bartlett got within 5 twice in the third quarter, the last coming at 42-37 with 2 minutes left, and trailed by 6, 44-38, entering the fourth.

But the Trevians (12-2), who will play Johnsburg in the semifinals, pulled away in the fourth. Abbey Schmitt scored 11 of her game-high and season-high 29 points in the fourth quarter for New Trier.

"I was trying to box out really hard and crash the boards," said Schmitt, who added 10 rebounds.

Gulczynski led Bartlett with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Haley Videckis added 11.

Johnsburg 59, Naperville Central 45: The Johnsburg girls basketball team didn't care if Naperville Central came into Monday night's game unbeaten.

It just cared that the Redhawks weren't leaving that way.

The Skyhawks handed Naperville Central its first loss of the season, beating the Redhawks 59-45 in the quarterfinals of the 27th annual Charger Classic in Carpentersville.

"We've never made it to the final four of this tournament," Johnsburg senior Danielle slivka said. "Every game we go out knowing that if we work together and play hard we can win."

The victory was the sixth straight for Johnsburg (11-3) and sent the Skyhawks into the semifinals. They will face New Trier (12-2) at 8 p.m. today. The Redhawks (12-1) play Bartlett (9-5) at 5 p.m. with a place in the fifth-place game on the line.

The Redhawks struggled throughout and never led. They shot 5-for-22 (23 percent) in the first half and trailed 18-12 at halftime. Naperville Central had the deficit down to 1, 11-10, midway through the second quarter, but failed to take advantage of the Skyhawks not scoring until 3:03 left in the quarter on Melissa Dixon's 3-point play.

"We missed a lot of shots in the first half," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. "Three 3s rimmed out. Couple of shots under the basket didn't go in. It was not a very good night at all."

Slivka scored 8 of her game-high 23 points in the third quarter to help Johnsburg increase its lead to 38-20 entering the fourth.

The Redhawks couldn't get any closer than 9, at 45-36, in the fourth.

Dixon added 20 points for the Skyhawks. Slivka added 8 rebounds. Megan Lopez had 8 points.

Claire Fleming led Naperville Central with 15 points. Catherine Tanck and Emma Donahue each added 10 points. Donahue also had 9 rebounds.

John Leusch and Brian Schaumburg contributed to this report