Girls basketball: Hersey turns halftime deficit into blowout win

Trailing Conant 21-20 at half, Hersey was unfazed.

The Huskies girls basketball team started the second half with a 26-3 run and never looked back en route to a 60-35 triumph in the Mid-Suburban League second-place crossover game Tuesday night in Hoffman Estates.

New Jersey Institute of Technology pledge Kate Donovan had a handful of assists during the big rally along with multiple rebounds and steals and even capped the run with a coast-to-coast rebound and layup which resulted in a 3-point play with 1:30 left in the third period.

""We were just making stupid mistakes, turning the ball over and not making outside shots," Donovan said. "Obviously in the second half, we wanted to get the ball inside to Sadie (Marks) because she had a height advantage. She (Hersey coach Courtney Ludois) just told us we had to focus in and make better decisions."

Which is exactly what the East runner-up Huskies (19-7) did in the third quarter when Marks had 10 points, two from 3-point range. The other 16 points in the explosive period for Hersey came from Emily Hany (5), three apiece from Ellie Molster, Rylee Farrell and Donovan, and a steal and layup by Luciana Pesoli, who had 4 points in the game.

For the game, Molster had 7 points, Lexi Miyares 4 and Lea Dreyer 3.

Marks, a 6-foot-2 junior, finished with a game-high 17 points.

"At half, our coach said to play our game and just be who we know we can be because we got into our heads in the first half," said three-year starter Marks. "We had to flip it around as a team, change our mindset and be the team we’ve been all season.

Hersey held West runner-up Conant (12-13) to 5 points in the third quarter.

"We got back to who we are on defense, we played with urgency and that was awesome to see," Ludois said. "We got into our heads a little in the first half. It wasn't that we weren't playing hard but we weren't playing smart. We didn't make shots and there have been a couple of games like that for us. But we made shots in the second half."

Senior forward Lyla Clifton made all of the Cougars' baskets in the second and third quarters when she scored 11 of her team-high 13 points.

"Lyla is a really good basketball player," said Cougars coach Todd Strauch. "The way they played defense on us opened up a lot of things for her to slip to the basket and stuff like that. Our guards (Gianna Fresso, Madyson Biedke and Kaitlyn Clark) did a good job finding her. We've just got to be a little more aggressive in handling pressure and getting some other people looks, too."

Junior Arianna Dugo added 6 points for the hosts while Fresso and Kate Jenrick each had five.

"We've talked all season about how important those first four minutes of the third quarter are when you play good teams," Strauch said. "And they turned up the pressure. We just didn't handle it well. When you don't, it goes from a close game to double digits fairly quickly."

A back-to-back 3-pointer and inside bucket from Hany (12 points) put Hersey on top 7-3 with 4:37 left in the opening quarter.

Marks' 6-footer put the visitors ahead 9-5 but Conant closed the quarter on an 8-2 run, getting a 3-pointer from Fresso, a layup by Clifton and a 3-pointer from Jenrick with 1:43 left for a 13-11 lead after one period.

Clifton's steal and layup extended the Cougars' lead to 17-12 with 4:59 left in the second quarter.

After Marks scored from 10 feet, Clifton struck again with a 15-footer from the side to make it 19-14. After Clifton scored a third straight basket off an assist from Jenrick on the fastbreak for a 21-16 lead, Hersey answered with a rebound layup from Etta Fischer (6 points) and a fastbreak layup by Hany off a beautiful pass around a defender from Donovan with four seconds left to make it 21-20 at intermission.