Girls basketball: Hersey’s strong second half nets key win over Fremd in MSL race
The battle for first place in the Mid-Suburban League East Division lived up to its billing when Hersey hosted Fremd in a girls basketball rivalry Tuesday night in Arlington Heights.
The contest wound up going down to the wire with a frantic finish that saw the two teams combine for four turnovers in the final 1:09 of the game.
But when all was said and done, the host Huskies held off the Vikings for an exciting 52-49 victory as Hersey (15-6, 6-1) outscored Fremd (18-5, 5-2) 30-22 in the second half.
Prospect (13-10) is still 5-1 in the MSL East heading into games against Barrington and Rolling Meadows on Thursday and Saturday.
Trailing 40-31 late in the third quarter, Hersey went on a 13-3 run capped by a rebound basket by sophomore Etta Fisher (9 points) to take a 44-43 lead with 7:03 to play.
Fremd's Gracie Todd (team-high 17 points) scored on a drive to give the Vikings their final lead of the game at 49-47 with 4:38 to play. But sophomore Ellie Molster (12 points) hit her fourth 3-pointer to give the Huskies the lead for good at 50-49 with 4:03 to play.
The game was a defensive struggle the rest of the way as 6-foot-2 Hersey center Sadie Marks hit a free throw with 40.8 seconds to play for a 51-49 lead. Then Marks blocked Lucy Kim's shot with 24 seconds to play before Hersey's Kate Donovan (game-high 19 points) hit a free throw 19.4 seconds left for a 52-49 lead.
A long 3-point attempt by Todd was partially blocked with two seconds to play, and the Huskies grabbed the rebound to secure the hard-fought victory.
"The toughness they showed in the fourth quarter was unbelievable, and they just refused to lose that game on their home court because we want to battle for first place in the East," said Hersey coach Courtney Ludois, whose team had 17 turnovers to 14 turnovers for Fremd.
"I'm just so proud of every single one of them seriously. Ellie Molster is one of our best shooters, and she's only a sophomore so this was a huge opportunity for her to step up tonight."
The Vikings led 14-10 after one quarter, 20-10 early in the second quarter, 27-22 at halftime, and 43-42 after three quarters.
Fremd's Greta Thompson scored 14 points while teammate Bella Del Mar scored 11 points. Hersey's Lexi Miyares scored 6 points, but she picked up her fourth foul with 2:44 left in the third quarter. Kim scored 7 points.
"That was a good win. We really wanted that win, and we knew it was going to be a tough game," said Donovan, whose team outscored Fremd 10-6 in the fourth quarter. "We did what we needed to do to get the W, and I think our lockdown defense really secured it in the end."
Fremd coach Jim Weaver was happy with his squad's effort and performance.
"I'm proud of the way we played. We're looking at this as a positive for us and we're learning what we need to do to get better at this point," said Weaver. "They hit shots at the end and we didn't hit shots at the end, and in these kinds of games anybody can beat anybody on any given night."