Conant 52, Hoffman 45
Giving up 30 points to Hoffman Estates' girls basketball team in the first half was not how Conant's seven seniors wanted to begin "Senior Night."
"We always like to keep our opponent under 30 points," said Cougars senior Ariana Zades. "It was back-and-forth offense in that first half (Hoffman led 30-29). We're not used to that."
Well, the Cougars are used to winning this season and that's what they did with a much better second-half defensive effort en route to a 52-45 triumph at Perry Gymnasium on Friday night.
Combined with Schaumburg's loss to Fremd, the Cougars (17-4, 6-1) are back on top in the Mid-Suburban West by a half game over the Saxons (19-2, 5-1).
"I'm definitely proud of all the seniors," said Zades, who scored a team-high 18 points. "We are like best friends. We've all played together since fourth grade.
"We were on the same Mead Junior High team (eighth-grade coach Pete Sauter was on hand Friday) and the Northwest Academy Club team."
Just two years ago, the Cougars were 8-20.
"For these kids to come this far is a great credit to them," said Cougars coach Dan Travers. "They are a classy group of young ladies."
The game was tied at 36-36 after three quarters.
But Conant senior Michelle Rawleigh (14 points, 5 rebounds) hit an 8-foot putback and teammate Emma Loos (8 points, 3 steals) made a steal and layup to start the fourth quarter.
Senior Noreen Davis than made a nice pass to Rawleigh for a layup and 42-36 lead.
After a layup by Hoffman's Megan Fischer (game-high 22 points), Davis hit a 3-pointer for a 45-38 lead and Hoffman (15-6, 1-5) never got closer.
"We wanted to keep the ball out of her hands in the second half and when she did have it, we tried to put all kinds of pressure on her," Zades said after Fischer scored 15 first-half points.
"Their kids are very skilled and Fischer is a very good player," Travers said. "Give Hoffman credit. They've improved a lot and we have, too."
Sophomore Ashley Lindeman added 4 points and 3 steals for Conant while senior Monica Danek also hit a 3-pointer and senior Lisa Parisi chipped in 3 points.
"It was a good game for 3½ quarters," said Hoffman coach Mike Nocella. "When they got the 4-point lead (40-36), they pulled the ball out and made us play man-to-man. And we began to kind of hurry and panic on offense."
Megan Evans added 7 points for Hoffman while Melissa Douglas had 6.
"I thought Jada Stotts (5-foot-9 freshman) had a good second half and Megan Fischer played well in the first half," Nocella added. "Megan Evans was nursing a bad ankle and played a pretty good game considering that."