Girls basketball: Experienced Fremd rolls into sectional championship game
With 10 titles from 28 appearances, Fremd's girls basketball team certainly has experience playing in sectionals.
The top-seeded Vikings (27-5) made it to an 11th title game on Tuesday night, posting a 64-41 victory over No. 4 Rolling Meadows (22-9) in the Class 4A Barrington sectional semifinal.
When they take on No. 2 Prospect (27-7) on Thursday night, the Vikings will be looking to tie Buffalo Grove for the most sectional titles by a Mid-Suburban League girls basketball team.
Utah recruit Ella Todd led Fremd with 18 points followed by senior Coco Urlacher (17) and senior Bella Del Mar (10).
"We take it even more seriously with the loss of Yates,“ Urlacher said of Fremd's hall of fame coach Dave Yates who died last summer after leading the Vikings to five sectional titles the last nine seasons.
"So we are all very dialed in and locked in. We knew we had to play as hard as we could because if you lose you go home."
And Urlacher (5-of-5 free throws) was ready, displaying an array of nifty moves to the basket.
"That's something that was stressed to Coco, to really go to the rim," said Fremd coach James Han. "She's really been working on her shot and it's really improved. But her strength is still going to the basket and finishing around the rim."
Two baskets by Urlacher and one by Todd off a nice entry pass from Del Mar gave Fremd a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. But Meadows came back to tie the game at 8-8 when Lizzy Andriano tossed in a 3-pointer from the baseline.
"Rolling Meadows is a well-coached team," Han said. "All teams are going to fight no matter what the score is. They got back into the game a little but we finished in the second half."
Fremd closed the first quarter on a 8-2 run, getting a 3-pointer from sophomore Gracie Todd (6 points), a 3-point play by Urlacher and 2 free throws by Ella Todd to lead 16-9 after one period.
The Vikes opened the second quarter with a 13-2 run, sparked by Ellie Thompson's 23-foot 3-pointer. Urlacher's rebound layup and her driving 6-footer made it 27-10 and Fremd went on to lead 34-18 at intermission.
The Vikings used a 10-0 run in the third quarter from Del Mar's 2 free throws and back-to-back buckets by Anna Montella to stretch the lead to 50-24.
Greta Thompson added 6 points for Fremd.
Junior Abby Ramel, one of five returning starters, led the Mustangs with 14 points followed by Nell Osterhues (13) and Lizzy Andriano (8).
One difference in the game came at the free-throw line where Fremd was 13-of-15 and Meadows 8-of-22.
"I felt like we grew as a team all season," said Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "We just wanted to be at our best at the end of the season and I thought we were. Fremd is obviously an awesome team. James is doing an incredible job. There is no margin for error when you are playing them. And I thought we did a lot of awesome things. We had a young team to start the season and I just felt we got close to our potential and I'm very proud of everything they did."