BG's full-court press finally flusters Friars

Buffalo Grove's girls basketball team has earned the reputation of being able to score in a hurry.

Trailing state-ranked Fenwick 41-31 with under five minutes to go and seemingly headed nowhere, the Bison burst onto the scene.

And before you knew it, they were on the lead.

An 11-0 run covering 63 seconds sparked by a furious full-court press gave the Bison a 42-41 advantage with 3:31 left.

With its confidence restored, Buffalo Grove went on to pull out a 52-47 victory for a 35h straight triumph on its home floor on Thursday night.

The victory for the state's Class 4A preseason No. 1 team (17-1) came five days after a 60-52 overtime loss to Fenwick (17-3) in the title game of the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic.

"I didn't want to lose to them again," said Buffalo Grove guard Maggie Mocchi, who drilled 11 of 12 free throws in the final quarter. "We wanted to prove we could beat them."

Allison Mocchi hit the first two baskets of the 11-0 rally.

Ellen Ayoub then blocked a Fenwick shot, raced down court and fed Kaitlin Hillner for layup which made it 41-37.

Ayoub (16 points) continued to steal the show with back-to-back steals and layups, the second one followed by a free throw for the 3-point play which put BG up 42-41 with 3:37 left.

Fenwick grabbed its last lead at 43-42 when sophomore standout Tricia Liston (13 points) made a pair of free throws with 3:26 left.

The Bison went ahead for good on a free throw by Allison Mocchi (9 points) with 3:15 left.

BG's final 8 points were free throws by Maggie Mocchi (game-high 21 points) .

"They just kept making those free throws and we couldn't respond," said Fenwick senior Lauren Gula, who also scored 13 points. "And then we got down on ourselves.

"Obviously, we're upset that we let the game get out of our hands. We've got to learn to handle the pressure of the game being on TV (televised live by Comcast) and their loud fans."

The Friars played without sophomore standout Katlyn Payne (18 ppg, 9 rebounds), who said she'll be out two to three weeks with a broken foot.

She scored 16 points against BG on Saturday.

"Katlyn's an amazing player and really would have picked us up," Gula added. "But Claire (Liston, a senior) did a great job for her.

"We just threw the game away. We had it, and we threw it away."

"The bottom line is that Buffalo Grove was on their home floor and they are a senior-oriented team," said Fenwick coach Dave Power. "Their press bothered us most when they needed it. Aside from that, we played a flawless game. I was pleased."

The Bison did not shoot a free throw the first three quarters before converting 13 of 14 in the final eight minutes.

Maggie Mocchi made her final 11.

Mocchi recently hit 35 straight free throws to break the school record previously held by Piper Mead (34).

"The fourth quarter was like night and day from the first three," said Bison coach Tom Dineen, who saw Heather Nisbet score 4 of his team's first 7 points in the first quarter (7-7 tie). "We looked like a million bucks (in the fourth quarter).

"I thought we were more aggressive taking the ball to the basket which was our game plan for the first three quarters."

But Ayoub was never worried.

"I never questioned we could come back," she said. "It was just a matter when. We finally got it going with our press. They couldn't throw the ball over Allison (Mocchi, who was guarding the inbounds passer). I knew we could come back. We've scored points in a hurry before."