Buffalo Grove makes key plays, tops Meadows

Basketball games are often decided by which team can make those few critical plays.

Friday night in Buffalo Grove, the Bison (8-13, 2-3) made them and beat visiting Rolling Meadows in a Mid-Suburban East clash 39-33.

The Bison closed each of the first two quarters with baskets to head into halftime down 24-20.

"At halftime, I said those 4 points better not come back to haunt us," said Meadows coach Todd Hatfield.

The lack of closing out quarters continued for the Mustangs when senior guard Heather Nisbet (9 points) scored as the third was ending to give BG a 32-30 lead.

"If we play better defensively for another 20 seconds, who knows where we would've been," said Hatfield.

Offensively for Meadows (8-11, 0-6), things changed. The Mustangs struggled to score, going 3-for-21 from the floor in the second half.

"It's frustrating," Hatfield said. "We can't execute."

BG didn't execute well in the first half on both ends of the floor.

"Defensively we broke down, and they had a lot of second-chance opportunities," said BG coach Pat Dudle.

In the second half, BG got after the boards with Bailey North (8 rebounds) and Stacey Lialios (6 rebounds) and was led offensively by Nisbet and junior Andrea DiPrima (11 points).

"We rely on Heather with her leadership," said Dudle. "She's the ultimate team player, she gets us in our offense and she can shoot a little bit."

"We came out harder in the second half," said Nisbet. "We came out with more energy. We wanted to get to the basket and get fouls."

Keeping the Mustangs in the game was junior Madelynn Conlin (12 points, three 3-pointers) and sophomore Ann Marie Lynch.

"This week we did the most shooting in practice that weve ever done," Conlin said. "But we need to hit more big shots down the stretch."

Lynch (3 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) was the only ballhandler that could break the Bison press, and her creating led to good looks for her teammates.

"This week we practiced me breaking the press off the dribble," Lynch said. "After that, I look for my teammates. If I don't have anyone, I like to get to the basket because I'm not a shooter."