Quick start carries Fremd by Conant

Fremd is ready for anything. And everything.

The Vikings’ girls basketball team is proving it with their play as basketball’s second season approaches.

“I think we’re ready. Every one of us is excited to play (Friday),” said forward Jaimie Groot after a 10-point performance in Thursday night’s 57-28 win in a make-up Mid-Suburban West game against visiting Conant.

Fremd, which holds a 1-game lead over Barrington in the MSL West race, hosts the Fillies at 8 p.m. today in a game which will determine the West champion.

Perhaps the most important aspect against Conant was Fremd (21-6, 9-0) getting off to a 10-0 lead and never letting up. Conant never got the lead under double-digits after Groot converted a fastbreak layup for a 3-point play and a 15-5 lead in period two.

“We’ve really struggled coming out strong,” Groot noted.

“Getting off to a good start,” was critical, said Fremd coach Dave Yates, who said he challenged his kids to do that. “They met the challenge, got control of the game.”

Groot had 7 of her 10 points in the first half and helped Fremd to a decisive 14-3 rebounding edge by halftime and a 33-17 lead. Point guard Ashley McConnell had 8 of her 11 points by halftime, including a buzzer-beating 3 to end the first half. McConnell, Bridget Kubis (10 points), Groot and Jessi Wiedemann (8 points) helped forced 20 turnovers. The Cougars, meanwhile, failed to convert numerous fastbreak chances after getting a defensive stop or a turnover out of the Vikes.

Conant had hung tough last time against Fremd and “pounded us on the boards,” Yates recalled. Not this time against his clearly focused, hungry group.

“We are so close,” Groot said of the key to the team’s success. “We know what each other’s going to do.”

And they played like it. Even the bench contributed a solid 18 points, including key shots and hustle rebounds from Megan Gray, Megan Horn and Sarah Power.

“Conant’s very well coached,” Yates said. “It’s easier to play from ahead against them than from behind.”

Conant (13-12, 2-7) never got to exercise that luxury.

“They just took us out of the things we wanted to do,” said Conant coach Dan Travers.

Every time his squad got something going — a 3 from Allison Bauch or Kate Kauffold, a steal from Lindsay Fillingim (7 points) or Hailey Andress — the Cougars failed to convert.

“Give Fremd a lot of credit,” Travers stressed.

And while a shot at the MSL title and then the playoffs loom for Fremd, “It’s still one game at a time,” Yates said.