Buffalo Grove rolls in opener; Fremd upsets Maine West
In some 20 years playing in the Dundee-Crown tourney, Buffalo Grove has never played its first-round game in the morning.
But that's what the top seed got the Bison.
"Maybe because it might be my last year it's their way of getting back at me," joked Hall of Fame BG coach Tom Dineen. "But they have a great hospitality room here so maybe I can get a couple of meals."
The coach and his players deserved some kind of a treat after another impressive win in which the Bison (14-0) darted out to a 24-5 first quarter lead.
When Ellen Ayoub's 8- footer put the Bison ahead 14-3, it also marked the senior's 1,500th point of her career. She finished with a game-high 24 points (two 3-pointers) and now ranks fifth on BG's all-time lit with 1,516 points.
"It's nice," Ayoub said about the milestone point. "But it's more exciting for me that we won and get to keep playing in the winner's bracket. This is one thing (D-C tourney) we've never won in my four years so we really want to do that."
Maggie Mocchi added 10 points and Heather Nisbet 9. The Bison bench (without Lauren Angotti who may return Friday from a broken right index finger) accounted for 11 points.
"In years past, maybe we went six deep," Dineen said. "This year, I think we can go much deeper."
Regina (7-9) was led by Kelcey Tarynoff's 17 points.
"Buffalo Grove is well coached by Tommy," said Regina coach Jim Russo. "The whole thing with them is that they are so confident and disciplined in doing the things they want to do. Before you bat an eye, you're down 12 or 14 points. And they are so talented, it's hard to dig out of the hole."
Russo liked the way his team played in the second half and hopes it can benefit.
"What's unique about Buffalo Grove is that they don't have that one big player like an Erin Lawless or Candace Parker," Russo added. "But they have three Division I players and no one cares who scores, or who handles the ball. They just care what it says on the scoreboard."
Mother McAuley 56, Evanston 55: With a balanced effort, Mother McAuley squeezed by Evanston during tournament action at Dundee-Crown.
Chelsea Owens led the Mighty Macs with 15 points. Sophie Newson and Meggan Sterk both added 9 points apiece, while Maureen Sullivan added seven.
Darcel Retreage scored a game-high 22 points for the Wildkits, while Kim Davis contributed 20 points to the offensive effort.
Resurrection 51, Hononegah 36: Deanna Ortiz's outstanding effort helped boost Resurrection to victory. Ortiz contributed a game-high 17 points, including five 3-pointers.
Rockton Hononegah was led by Whitney Carroll, scoring 14 points.
Fremd 38, Maine West 36: Dreams come true at the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic.
Just ask Fremd sophomore point guard Taylor Glassmann, whose driving layup with three seconds left earned the Vikings a dramatic 38-36 victory over five-time tourney champ Maine West in Wednesday's first-round girls basketball game.
"When you shoot around all summer you're dreaming of that last shot with the clock running down," said Glassmann, whose 9 points were only 2 behind team leader Tracey Nachtsheim (11 points with three 3-pointers in the first half).
"We had been working very hard in practice because we wanted to come back from our loss to Schaumburg (63-35)," Glassmann added. "This was a statement game because we don't like getting beat by 28 points."
The Vikings (6-7) will face Resurrection in today's 5 p.m. semifinal.
Senior Mary Kusner led Maine West (11-3) with 14 points and 8 rebounds.
"Give Fremd a lot of credit," said Maine West coach Derril Kipp. "They came to win the game and our kids came to celebrate Christmas. We didn't execute anything and this was very disappointing after our win at Maine South last week. No one stepped up for us."
Fremd coach Dave Yates credited Melissa Castles (5 rebounds), Dani Videka (3 rebounds), Hannah Devine and Lauren Zaworski (6 points, 5 rebounds) with containing the Warriors to 36 points.
Glassmann's 3-pointer put Fremd ahead 36-34 with 4:04 left.
Maine West (11-3) tied it at 36 when Brittany Begrowicz (10 points) hit a driving bank shot with 3:08 left.
Fremd missed two free throws with 1:54 left and Maine West missed two inside shots with 1:30 left.
Fremd then called timeouts with 1:03, 29 and 10 seconds left.
"Taylor was supposed to make something happen," said Fremd coach Dave Yates of the final play. "It was nice to see her take it all the way (from the top of the key) and make the basket. We're very proud of what she did."
Glassmann had some proud fans in the stands, including her grandfather Al Karnatz , a star forward for Niles East High School in the mid-1950s.
"My grandparents, aunt and uncle from St Louis and even a cousin who is in the marines and stationed in North Carolina were here," she said. " To hit my first game-winning shot with my whole family watching was awesome."
Even her grandfather never hit a winning shot while averaging 25 points his senior year.
"It was unbelievable, wasn't it?" Karnatz said of the winning shot. "I was saying in the stands "get the ball in Taylor's hands."
That was the plan all along and it turned into a dream come true.
-- John Leusch
Naperville Central 54, St. Charles North 52: There was only one way for a game like this to end.
After a dismal first half and a high-scoring second half, St. Charles North and Naperville Central's dogfight came down to Kelley Hendrick's game-winning shot as time expired.
Hendrick's first career game-winning basket allowed Naperville Central to escape with a 54-52 first-round victory.
The Redhawks (11-3) worked the ball around in an unscripted play with Emma Ondik finding a wide-open Hendrick with 2 seconds left in the tied game. Hendrick connected as she was toppled by a pair of flying North Stars' defenders.
"We were just running our regular offense," said Hendricks, who finished with 19 points. "We wanted to get the ball to someone on our team."
After shooting 54.1 percent (13 of 24) in the second half it really didn't matter who got the look.
Katie Atwood (12 points) made four 3-pointers from the right side in the second half, Ondik (10 points) sank 2 from the left in the third period and Hendrick (5 assists) scored 13 points in the second half.
Hendrick also split a pair of free throws to put the Redhawks up 52-50 with 32 seconds left. Kiley Hackbarth tied the game for the North Stars with 20 seconds left, setting up Central for the final shot.
"It's tough battling when they are making they're making the shots that they were," St. Charles North coach Katie Sauber said. It's hard when they are draining from the outside."
Hard as it was, the North Stars (8-3) nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback.
Down 49-38 with 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining, North scored 10 straight points in the next 1:35. Nika Sircher (9 points, 3 steals) and Hackbarth (10 points) nailed 3-pointers, Anna Conrad (8 points, 7 assists) got a steal and basket and Kelsey Smith (21 points, 14 rebounds) made it a 51-50 game with 57 seconds remaining.
The North Stars took an 11-10 lead after the first half, with the two teams combining to go 6 of 48 from the floor. Each team made 3 field goals, with Smith leading all players with 7 points, 5 coming from free throws.
"This is my 20th year (coaching) and I don't know if we've ever had two more different halves," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "Our kids played much better in the second half."
Added Smith: "We came out really tentative in the first half. I think we played good defense in the first half."
-- Matt Stacionis
New Trier 49, Johnsburg 36: With three players in double-digit scoring, New Trier overpowered Johnsburg during action at Dundee-Crown. Megan Napoli finished with a game-high 19 points, Molly Quirke scored 12 points, and Emily Higgins contributed 11 points.
Johnsburg was led by Brittany McNish, scoring 15 points. Heather Miller, Melissa Dixon, and Rebecca Staveteig each finished with 7 points.
Fenwick 70, Bartlett 24: You can call Fenwick's girls basketball team a dynasty; Well, at least that's what it appears like when the Friars come to the annual Dundee-Crown Christmas tournament. The defending state champions and three-time defending champions of the tournament sent a clear message that they are looking "four" more by defeating Bartlett 70-24 in the opening round of the 25th Annual Charger Classic in Carpentersville.
Although losing four starters from last season's tournament championship team, the Friars (13-2) are positioning themselves with unselfish play that coach Dave Power loves.
"That's the thing I like about this team; they're totally unselfish. They don't care who scores, they just want to win," said Power, whose team stormed out of the gate with 25 first-quarter points, allowing just 4 points and forcing 11 first-quarter turnovers.
"We played hard, we got out of the gate quick, we didn't take them lightly and we got off to a great start which is a good thing for us," Power said.
Tricia Liston and St. Edward transfer Katlyn Payne combined for 16 first quarter points. Payne would end with a game-high 17 and Liston finished with 12. The Friars forced 25 turnovers, held Bartlett (4-9) to 11 of 53 from the field and out-rebounded the Hawks 39-23. In one stretch the Friars led by 32.
"We had a good team effort. When we play together, that's our best game," said Payne.
"I think this year is going to be a real challenge. I'm tickled to death that we're still in the hunt, the girls are working hard and I am proud of that," said Power.
Hawks coach Denise Sarna told her players to put the game behind them. A 36-point loss wasn't what she imagined coming into the Charger Classic.
"All around ugly. We were ready to play today. We can play better than the we played today. We had an (awful) shooting day," she said.
Freshman Jacki Gulczynski led Bartlett with 12 points and 8 rebounds.
"We're getting to that point in the season where we don't want to be making those excuses that we're young and inexperienced. We want to start stepping it up. We didn't come with the right intensity," she said.
-- Steve Nichols
Prospect 59, Dundee-Crown 36: After clawing its was back to a 14-6 game at the end of the first quarter, things were looking up for Dundee-Crown.
Prospect outscored the Chargers 14-0 to open the final game of Day 1 action at the 25th Annual Charger Classic girls basketball tournament sponsored by the Daily Herald, but Dundee-Crown had scored the final 6 points of the period and cut the lead to 8.
Then poof.
Prospect went on a 9-0 run, led by 5 points from point guard Danielle Brucci, took control, and eventually the game 59-36.
"Part of it was our rotation," Prospect coach Martha Kelly said. "They did a good job of staying positive. We pushed the ball and got a couple of layups on offense."
The Knights (11-4) went on to take a 35-12 halftime lead by scoring 21 points in the third quarter. Prospect shot 50 percent (15 of 30) from the floor in the first half including 9 of 17 in the second quarter.
All of the positive factors Kelly knows her team will need when it meets up with second-round opponent Fenwick (11-2), a 70-24 winner over Bartlett (4-9), at 8 p.m. today. The Chargers (7-5) and Bartlett will meet in a 2 p.m. consolation bracket game. Dundee-Crown would also like to see some of its efforts from Wednesday night get better.
In particular, Chargers coach Joe Komaromy wants his team to pound the ball down low.
The Chargers outscored Prospect 13-6 in the third quarter to bring the game to 41-25. All 13 points in the third quarter came from Kate-Leigh Pilson (16 points, 9 rebounds) and Robyn Staudenmaier (13 points, 9 rebounds).
Dundee-Crown scored all 24 of its second-half points in the paint.
"We have to build on the second half," Komaromy said. "I'm proud of our kids' second half. We were very aggressive."
Added Kelly: "Pilson's a tough girl. We were ready for her. (But) with her as strong as she is, she's going to get her points."
The Chargers also cut down on the turnovers. Prospect forced 19 first-half turnovers, compared to just 6 in the second half. Chargers junior Alex Lococo forced several turnovers of her own, finishing with 4 of her game-high 6 steals in the first quarter, but the Chargers capitalized just once, when Lococo hit a fast-break layup.
Sarah Winans (3 assists) finished with 13 points off the bench for the Knights, who also got 10 points from Brucci and 11 from Rachel Hunt.
-- Matt Stacionis
This roundup compiled by Jaci Corn.