Trinity hands Fremd first loss

Fremd's girls basketball team got its tuneup on Monday night for the 29th annual Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown High School which begins next week.

It came against one of the top teams in the state.

And Trinity (8-1) showed why it has its lofty ranking with a 65-50 triumph in River Forest.

It was the Vikings' first loss in 11 games.

“Trinity is an excellent team,” said Fremd coach Dave Yates, about a team has been mentioned as a contender for the Class 4A state crown “This was a great game to play at this point in our season.

“We have a number of things to work on and I feel a game like this will make us a better team by the end of the season. Coach (Eddie) Strizel's team played a complete game tonight. We did not.”

Valparaiso-bound senior Jessi Wiedemann led the Vikes with 17 points, including 4 3-pointers in the second half.

“Jessi kept us within striking distance in the second half by knocking down those big 3s,” Yates said. “Unfortunately we didn't take care of the ball at times and did not have our best defensive game.”

Sophomore Ashley McConnell and freshman Haley Gorecki each added 12 points for Fremd while junior Bernie Williams chipped in 5.

The game was tied 13-13 after one quarter and Trinity got in front 29-24 at the break.

“I thought we played them straight up until the last two minutes of the second quarter,” Yates said.

The Blazers outscored the visitors 22-15 in the third quarter.

“They countered every run we had,” Yates added. “They jumped on us to start the second half and we had to play catch-up the whole second half.

“I thought we ran out of gas late. We had a difficult time matching up with their overall size and they made us pay for not boxing them out.”

Senior forward Megan Podwaka, a 6-foot-1 DePaul recruit, led the Blazers with a game-high 18 points.

Junior Mikayla Leyden added 14 and 5-10 classmate Shannon McGinnis had 11 for Trinity, whose only loss is to state contender No. 1 Whitney Young (9-0).