Fremd makes its point against Palatine

Not often at the varsity level do you see a freshman point guard making a big impact.

In Tuesday night in Fremd's 55-31 victory over Palatine, there were two of them.

Fremd frosh Ashley McConnell, who has stepped into the starting lineup as of late, scored 11 points and played a stellar all-around floor game in the win while her counterpart, Palatine's Nia Pappas, finished with 7 points and ran the show for the Pirates.

"She (McConnell) is playing solid defense, taking care of the ball, and doing everything we ask her do," said Fremd coach Dave Yates.

For her part, McConnell appreciates the support of the Vikings' upperclassmen.

"It's an honor playing with Gianna (Abruzzo), Taylor (Glassmann), Bridget (Kubis) and the rest of the players who have been here awhile," said the freshman. "They're very positive and great teammates."

And Palatine coach Leslie Schock, whose youthful team was led Tuesday by a strong inside game from sophomore forward Katelyn Mayer(10 points) , is positive that her freshman point guard is only going to get better.

"I've been nothing but impressed with Nia," said Schock. "We've put a lot of pressure on her, and she's responded wonderfully."

In Tuesday night's win, the host Vikings opened the game with some hot shooting and a flurry of early 3s to take a commanding first half lead.

Palatine was able to keep up for awhile, but consecutive steals and layups by Glassmann (game high 13 points) and Kubis (12 points) early in the third quarter helped put the game out of reach.

"In the first half we came out with intensity and executed our game plan," said Schock, "but Fremd was just on fire. I think they shot about 80 percent in the first quarter and we shot about 18 percent - but that happens."

Palatine sophomore guard Laura Schweikert, who Schock said did a "great job defensively," pitched in with 5 points while 6-foot-1 sophomore Jessi Wiedemann scored 8 points for the Vikings and Abruzzo had 4 points 8 rebounds.

"We're shooting about 40 percent from 3-point range," said Yates, "yet still we keep seeing zones, and our kids enjoy playing against a zone defense."