Rolling Meadows stops Glenbard North

By all rights Jackie Kemph and Maddie Conlin should have been a little fatigued prior to their regional semifinal game against Glenbard North.

The Rolling Meadows teammates had already spent more than a half hour on the court even before warmups, participating in the IHSA 3-point shootout contest and going three overtime rounds head-to-head as they matched each other shot for shot.

But, according to senior guard Conlin, the extra shooting time had the opposite effect, energizing the Mustangs.

“We weren’t tired at all,” said Conlin, who wound up advancing in the 3-point tourney after both players had put up about 70 shots. “It was all for fun.”

Conlin, Kemph and their teammates took that fun onto the court for the main event, defeating the host Panthers 44-31 to move into their first regional championship contest in more than a decade.

Rolling Meadows will take on Bartlett at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the crown.

“We wanted to win this and have the girls participate in a regional title game atmosphere for the first time in a long time,” said Rolling Meadows coach Todd Hatfield.

Glenbard North, fresh off a 50-46 play-in upset over Conant, had the same approach against Rolling Meadows as it did versus the Cougars, according to Panthers junior guard Brianna Harn.

“We wanted to drive to the basket, just like we did against Conant, and look for the open shot,” said Harn, who scored a game-high 15 points. “We were ready for their pressure — we’re used to pressure defense playing against the teams in our conference.”

But it was the Rolling Meadows defense that turned the tide after Glenbard North took an early 8-4 lead behind 3-pointers from Harn and sophomore guard Amy Falson.

The Mustangs, who were without starters Sara Shumaker and Ann Marie Lynch due to injury, used a trapping “D” to cause turnover after turnover as Rolling Meadows scored the next 19 points to take a 23-8 second-quarter lead.

“We watched tape,” said Kemph, a freshman, “so we knew what would be successful against them.”

“The playoffs are a new season, and we wanted to start it off right,” said Conlin, who despite standing only 5-foot-6 grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with 7 points. “Like our coaches tell us, great defense creates great offense, and I think our defense was great tonight.”

Rolling Meadows took its biggest lead at 31-12 in the third quarter after Kemph sank 2 free throws.

Glenbard North made things interesting in the fourth quarter by scoring the first 12 points of the period behind two 3s from Harn and another by senior Jackie Jacobs, but a well-timed layup from Rolling Meadows junior Amanda Gunn stopped the Panthers’ run.

Jacobs and Katie Wisniewski each scored 4 points for Glenbard, while Morgan Keller had 8 for the Mustangs.

“We wanted to come out tonight and press them with some full-court stuff,” Hatfield said. “But after they opened up by hitting back-to-back 3s, we halted that and decided to pressure the heck out of them at half court.”