Buffalo Grove 50, St. Charles North 39

With two minutes and 20 seconds remaining, Buffalo Grove's girls basketball team went into its seemingly patented four-corner offense.

And once again, the Bison showed why they have cornered the market on trips to the state finals with a 50-39 victory over St. Charles North.

Leading 43-36, the Bison received 4 free throws from Maggie Mocchi, 2 from Ellen Ayoub and 1 from Allison Mocchi to seal the triumph before a capacity crowd of more than 1,500 at the Elgin Community College Class 4A supersectional hosted by Larkin.

And it's fitting the man who has led BG downstate eight previous times, Tom Dineen, will most likely finish his coaching career there in that same capacity.

"What a great way for those three girls (Mocchis and Ayoub) to end their careers," said Dineen (676-228 in 29 seasons), who is retiring at the end of the school year, meaning his job will be made available to applicants. "And probably mine."

Those three seniors -- who have all scored more than 1,000 points and are 121-20 in four years -- will be making their third straight trip to Illinois State's Redbird Arena.

This time, though, they know they will return with a trophy because only four teams are still alive with new four-class system.

Buffalo Grove (32-3) will face Whitney Young (28-3) in Friday's 8:15 p.m. at Illinois State's Redbird Arena.

Allison Mocchi, in addition to the high-priority job of defending St. Charles North's 6-foot-4 junior star Kelsey Smith, scored a game-high 16 points while twin sister Maggie had 14 points. Ayoub came next at 9 for the Bison.

"We do not want to settle for the Final Four," said Maggie Mocchi, who also collected a game-high 11 rebounds. "We want to go all the way. From here on out, losing is not an option."

The North Stars' best option was Smith, who had 15 points and 6 rebounds.

"I've been guarding Sarah Boothe (Warren's 6-4 star) the last couple of years in the supersectional," said Allison Mocchi. "This was like the same thing. They both move great around the basket and are very versatile."

Two layups by Anna Conrad gave the North Stars (23-6) a 4-0 lead but the Bison went on an 11-0 run, taking the lead for good on Ayoub's first of two 3-pointers.

"It's amazing," Ayoub said. "I can't get over it. I'm really excited, but we still have more to do."

St. Charles North coach Katie Sauber knows her young team which finished 23-6 has more to do next year.

"We know we lost to one of the top teams in the state," Sauber said. "Our girls are very upset knowing they came close to the big finale.

"Buffalo Grove is tough to defend because their girls are five to six inches taller than us, but we did an excellent job defending that."

Junior Alex Messacar added 7 points for the North Stars while sophomore Kiley Hackbarth and senior Caitlin Winkelman both had 5.

Smith, being heavily recruited by major colleges, will be a major force next season.

"I tried to put pressure on her as much as I could," Allison Mocchi said. "But I have to credit my help defense. I was getting it all the time. Kaitlin (Hillner) and Heather (Nisbet) helped a lot, too."

Hillner's drive to the basket for a layup started BG's 11-0 run in the first quarter. The junior also hit a key 3-pointer when St. Charles North closed to within 17-13 midway through the second quarter.

"We had a couple of favorable matchups and I thought we did a great job taking advantage of them," Dineen said. "We wanted to keep Kelsey Smith away from the basket. I thought Allison stayed on her and battled right to the end. She did a great job."

"She's (Smith) obviously a great player," Allison said. "She works hard to get open. I've got to give her credit."

And credit the Bison with a third state trophy in 29 years under Dineen, They were fourth in 1979 and first in 2000.

This year's finish will be decided by Saturday night.