Buffalo Grove 94, Deerfield 47

A handful of Buffalo Grove girls basketball players take a short "power nap" prior to all the Bison games.

Sophomore reserve Stacy Lialios is one of them.

After the Bison starters did their job on Tuesday night, Lialios made sure the Mid-Suburban East co-champs didn't fall asleep.

She provided 9 points off the bench as the Bison came off a school record 58-point performance in the first half to finish with a 94-47 victory in their Class 4A regional opener with Deerfield (12-18).

The top-seeded Bison (28-3) face No. 7 Round Lake (24-5) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday looking for their 25th regional crown in 29 seasons under coach Tom Dineen, who played 12 girls Tuesday.

"When we come off the bench we want to keep up the intensity and momentum that the starters built," Lialios said. "We thrive on their energy."

The starters were led by Allison Mocchi (20 points), Ellen Ayoub (15) and Maggie Mocchi (12).

Kaitlin Hillner and Heather Nisbet each chipped in 7 points.

Lauren Angotti (8 points), Kelly Mahoney (8) and Katie Lee (4) also produced points off the bench.

"We just want to come out hard every time," said Hillner, who helped create many turnovers from the Bison fullcourt press. "We play every game like it's our last one."

"Kaitlin was all over the place on defense," Dineen said. "I thought we played extremely well in the first half. We were really unselfish and I was pretty impressed.

"We missed our first 3 or 4 shots, then started shooting very well. And I really liked our defensive intensity right from the start."

Dani Ripkey led Deerfield with 18 points.

"It was tied 9-9, then in a blink of an eye it was 15-9," said Deerfield coach Mike Muldrow. "It's their press. We just didn't have an answer. That was the game in a nutshell.

"They're a very good team. I was honestly worried about their defense and I don't know if it's because I didn't come up with the right answer or if they're that much better than us."

Round Lake 64, Fremd 47: When it was leading 39-20, No. 7 seed Round Lake (24-5) had plenty of incentive to prevent this regional semifinal from slipping away.

"If we let them come back, coach (Gary Edge) would have been very upset with us," said Panthers junior guard Labrenthia Murdock, who tossed in a game-high 17 points.

Despite Fremd's rally which twice saw the No. 9 Vikings (16-11) pull to within 7 points in the second half, Murdock and company made sure Edge was smiling at game's end.

"We talked at half (down 39-21) about coming back and getting within single digits near the start of the fourth quarter," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "And we did (45-36). But then sometimes you relax at that point. We had some turnovers and our shots didn't go down."

The Vikings got to within 49-42 with 4:22 left but Round Lake went on a 9-0 run to put away the game.

Samantha Thelin (12 points), Taylor Glassmann (10), Melissa Castles (8) and Gianna Abruzzo (8) were top scorers for the Mid-Suburban West runner-up.

"I wish we could have gone further in the tournament," Castles said. "But I'm proud of what we accomplished this season."

The Vikings finished the season by winning 10 of their 12, including victories over area powers Maine West and Schaumburg.

"I'm proud of the kids," Yates added. "This group doubled their wins (8-21) from a year ago.

"From the end of last season until now, these girls worked extremely hard to change their luck, and it wasn't luck that made them improve. It was hard work. They believed in what they could do and did it."