Buffalo Grove on quite a roll
One of the best turn-arounds in Buffalo Grove's girls basketball history continued Tuesday night.
Four days after handing Mid-Suburban East champion Hersey it only conference loss, the Bison got past MSL West runner-up Barrington 57-51 after losing twice to the Fillies in the first four weeks of the season.
Not bad for a team that started out 1-8.
"I just don't even know how to describe it," said Bison senior guard KC Dunne, who scored a team-high 18 points after her team won for the 15th time in 20 games. "We've just been on a roll. We really came together as a team. Everything is about team, not individual."
One Bison, Andrea DiPrima, reached a milestone with her 6 points in the contest.
That gave the senior guard 1,000 for her career.
"That's fantastic," said Bison coach Pat Dudle. "She's a special player. She's got a pure jump shot. She has had a great career and I hope it goes on a few more weeks."
DiPrima's 15-footer with two seconds left gave BG a 27-19 lead at half which increased to 29-19 on a putback by sophomore Bailey North (16 points).
But the Fillies charged all the way back and went ahead 39-38 on a sweeping move in the lane by Abby Kirchoff (21 points, 9 rebounds 3 steals) for a bank shot.
The Bison answered with a driving layup by Dunne, a 14-footer by DiPrima and another layup by Dunne for a 46-39 lead.
The Bison (9-of-9 on free throws in the fourth quarter) sealed the win with 2 free throws apiece from Dunne, Emily Georgoulis and Emily Cho in the final 37 seconds.
"We've been resilient all season," Dudle added. "The girls are playing their best basketball at the right time of the season. If you are going to win a regional, you've got to be able to beat teams the caliber of Hersey and Barrington They both are having great seasons. We are peaking at the right time."
Brooke Chandor added 12 points, all in the second half, for the Fillies while Lizzie Deuel chipped in 6.
"Brooke got us going in the third quarter and Lizzie had some big steals and big baskets at key times," said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. "I thought Kiersten Tinkoff (6 rebounds) and Bailey North really battled hard inside, especially in second half.
"Abby Kirchoff always works hard. I thought we looked flat in the first half but we had a nice fourth quarter and half a third quarter. Credit BG, they played a good game and made some nice plays down the stretch." Conant 58, Elk Grove 54 (OT): A rebound layup by Conant senior Jenna Heneghan (15 points) at the buzzer sent the game to overtime.
Alyssa Rawleigh (four 3-pointers) led the Cougars (14-12) with 18 points while Kelly Lomas and Lindsay Fillingim each added 9. Teammate Natalie Kutramanes chipped in 7.
Diamond Boyd (22 points, 7 rebounds), Kelly Naughton (14 points, two 3-pointers) and Maggie Fries (11 points) led Elk Grove (10-17).
Hoffman Estates 44, Prospect 33: Destinee Young (14 points, 8 rebounds) and Jada Stotts (12 points, 8 rebounds) were top scorers for Hoffman Estates (18-8) at the Jean Walker Field House in Mt. Prospect.
Precious Ogunleye collected 9 rebounds and Mary Pettit had 7 points and 3 steals for Hoffman.
Mel McGinn had a big basket and assists in the final quarter for Hoffman.
Sarah Hunt led Prospect (14-12) with 15 points.
Rolling Meadows 49, Schaumburg 35: Senior Maddie Conlin led host Meadows (18-11) with 12 points and teammate Morgan Keller added 10.
Alyssa Saklak was the top scorer for the Saxons (12-15) with 9 points.
Palatine 44, Wheeling 33: Sophomores Nia Pappas (18 points, four 3-pointers) and McKenzie Wiedemann (11) led visiting Palatine (8-18) while the Wildcats (3-25) were paced by Kellie Kuzmanic's 15 points.
Maine West 45, Hinsdale Central 35: Brittany Collins 11 points), Amanda Hoye (9), Megan John and Katherine Kusner (8) led the visiting Warriors (11-19) in the nonconference game.
Christian Liberty 47, Chicago Jewish 20: Brittany Negron (15 points) led visiting Christian Liberty Academy.