Stevenson takes second at tourney
Just when it appeared Hersey might be inching it ways back into contention against Stevenson on Saturday, the Patriots landed the threefold punch.
With under four minutes left in the third quarter, senior Anna Morrissey hit a 3-pointer and classmate Michelle O'Brien followed with a 3-point play.
Those 6 unanswered points in less than 15 seconds with a steal in between by senior McKinley Imus extended the Patriots' third-quarter lead to 45-29 en route to a 69-54 triumph in the final-round game of the Maine West Girls Basketball Tip-Off Classic.
“That was a critical part of the game we wanted to keep them down,” said O'Brien, the Western Michigan recruit and first-team all-tourney pick who finished with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. “Anna hit some big shots for us.”
Morrissey (3 assists), also a first-team all-tourney selection, finished with 13 points, followed by sophomore Kari Moffat (12) and Imus (10).
Senior Ashley Niedermayer and sophomore Alex Elzinga each chipped in 6 for the Patriots (5-2), who took second place in the tourney (4-1) their only loss coming to champion Marian Catholic (6-0, 5-0).
“To come out of this tournament with a 4-1 record, I'm pleased,” said Patriots coach Tom Dineen, whose team won the title a year ago (at 5-0). “Obviously, we'd have liked to have won it again, but I'm pleased to go 4-1 with the good teams here.”
Marian Catholic defeated Stevenson 50-47 Friday night.
“I was a little worried how we'd bounce back,” Dineen said. “But we bounced back well.”
Hersey (4-3, 3-2) was led by all-stater Megan Rogowski, a DePaul recruit and first-team all-tourney pick who tossed home a game-high 27 points that included three 3-pointers.
“Anna (Morrissey) and McKinley (Imus) played hard on Megan,” Dineen said. “And we got help on her, too.”
Patriots point guard Moffat helped direct traffic.
“It was one of Kari's better games,” Dineen added about the second-team all-tourney pick. “She created a lot of things and played real good defense on their point guard. Alex (Elzinga) also gave us good minutes and McKinley played real well after we had talked about her production not being where we wanted it the last few games.”
Hersey produced its best effort in the fourth quarter, outscoring Stevenson 24-16.
“Everyone relaxed and we ran our offense,” said Hersey coach Mary Fendley. “So that's a positive. Right now, Stevenson is a better team than us. They proved that against common opponents, too.
“We have four new starters so it's going to take awhile before we find ourselves as a team. I feel this how we started last season, too. It just took us awhile to get there.”
The Huskies' Jen Hall, Eileen Zydek and Maggie Hogen each chipped in 6 points, and senior Stefanie Mueller was a second-team all-tourney pick.
Marian Catholic 77, Maine West 29: Freshman second-team all-tourney pick Brittany Collins scored a career-high 18 points with 6 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 1 steal for Maine West (0-7, 0-5).
“Brittany is getting better,” said Maine West coach Derril Kipp. “We'll find out in a few weeks what we've gotten out of 5 losses in this tournament. We played some pretty good team and I think the girls were a little intimidated at times. We've got to see if they can improve on their fundamental skills.”
Elk Grove 51, Glenbrook North 46: Senior guard Maggie Fries rang up 20 points, including a trio of 3-point baskets, as visiting Elk Grove (5-3) earned a 51-46 nonconference victory over Glenbrook North.