Schaumburg 56, Barrington 52

Easy is being 7-0.

And not having been challenged yet.

Easy is being up 15-4 in the first quarter.

And still be looking for a challenge.

That's how it's been for Schaumburg's girls basketball team so far this season. They looked terrific on their way to 8-0 Friday night with an 11-point first-quarter lead at Barrington against a young Fillies team committing a lot of turnovers, taking low-percentage shots and not getting a whole bunch of rebounds either.

But it all changed. Barrington went to a zone defense that Schaumburg had trouble solving. The Fillies started hitting the boards and stayed with the taller Saxons for the final three quarters. They started hitting their shots too, especially impressive freshman Shelby Whigham (16 points), sophomore center Emily Harris (7 points) and junior guard/forward Claire Roggeveen (12 points).

And when foul-plagued Lianne Davis hit a 3 midway through the third quarter, Barrington had the lead.

But Schaumburg (8-0, 2-0) reawakened.

"This is exactly what we needed," said Schaumburg coach Bill Murmann after his team survived what became a seesaw battle from there to score a 56-52 Mid-Suburban West win. "This is exactly what we needed against a team that had a lot of heart."

Schaumburg's senior leadership showed the way, too, over the far less experienced Fillies (1-7, 0-2). Senior guard Kylie Castans took charge, hitting 4 of 5 shots during one stretch of the second half, two of those huge 3-pointers. Then she turned it over to her taller partners down low and they responded. Gabby Blackwell finished off a terrific evening, hitting her last four shots in the second half, including two late to provide the winning cushion. Gryte Satas used her 6-foot-2 frame to block 3 shots in the fourth quarter as well and veteran Drewann Pancratz had a big jumper and 2 free throws.

Afterward, Castans' thoughts on the game, after a lengthy but reflective Saxon postgame team session, showed why she's the leader she has become.

"We just realized we needed to make the extra pass. We just realized we needed to hit the open man," she said of the patience and poise her team displayed.

For Barrington, meanwhile, it was almost a moral victory.

"I loved that we didn't go away. It would've been real easy for us to pack it up," down 15-4 in the first quarter, said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "I was just happy with us as a team."