Buffalo Grove gets defensive against Barrington
Buffalo Grove's girls basketball team ventured away from home for the first time this season.
The Bison made sure to bring their defense. Limiting Barrington to 5 points and 4 points, respectively, in the opening quarters of each half, Buffalo Grove posted a 46-33 victory in the third round of its own Bison Classic which was played at Maine South High School on Tuesday.
The Bison (2-1) return to their home floor for the tourney's final two games on Friday and Saturday.
"We keep telling our kids that the way we have to make our name is through defense," said BG coach Steve Kolodziej. "I don't care who you are playing. Whenever you hold a team to 33 points, you're doing well on defense."
BG did well enough on offense to own a 7-5 lead after one quarter, thanks to a free throw by Sammy Stejskal with 2:55 left (5-4) and a 3-point play by the 5-foot-11 senior guard with 1:17.
A 3-pointer by junior guard Georgette Topalis and big driving bank shot by senior Amanda Kowalski made it 12-5 when Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro called for a time out.
Barrington (1-2) responded with three straight inside buckets by junior forward Alex Van Ryne to make it 12-11.
The game was tied at 18 at half but the Bison came out with an 11-0 run in the third quarter and never looked back.
Kowalski's steal and layup made it 21-18.
Senior guard Maddie Welter also had 2 steals during the rally and converted 4 free throws.
"I thought our defense showed a lot of pressure on the ball," said Welter, who also had a nice assist to Topalis for layup and 33-22 lead late in the third quarter. "And we did a good job knowing where Megan Talbot (6-foot-2 Illinois State recruit) was at all times. Limiting her helped lead to our win."
Talbot's 3-pointer from near the top of the key got the Fillies to within 37-29 midway through the final period but that's as close as they would get.
Kowalski answered with a 3-pointer and the Bison were able to enter a four-corners offense for the rest of the game.
"We lost to a pretty good team (Rich East)," said Welter. "It's exciting to come back after that loss and step up like we did."
A lot of people stepped up for BG offensively with Topalis (12 points) leading the way followed by Kowalski (8), Sammy Stejskal (7), Welter (7), Alyssa Floros (4) and Kendall Prochaska (4).
"A lot of people contributed," said Welter, who has committed to St. Xavier College in Chicago. "That's huge because you can't just do it with one or two players. We need everyone and our younger girls are stepping up."
Barreiro liked how Talbot stepped up on the defensive end.
"I really felt like Megan did a great job on Maddie Welter," Barreiro said. "That's a post defending a guard. Megan did a nice job making her adjust her shots. I don't think she gave her an easy look all night."
Senior guard Abigail Elo had a nice scoring night for the Fillies collecting 12 points. She was the only Fillie to score in the first ten minutes, hitting a 3-pointer and a short bank shot.
"Abigail played well on both sides of the floor," Barreiro said. "And I thought we did a nice job limiting not only Welter's looks, but Stejskal as well. They are both pretty nice offensive players (all-area as juniors)."
Also lifting the Fillies' offense was Van Ryne (10 points) and Talbot (7).
"We made 26 turnovers," Barreiro added. "I thought Buffalo Grove played a fabulous defensive game. They out-hustled us for three of the four quarters. Against a good team, you've got to come ready to play."
"Give Barrington credit," Kolodziej said. "They came back after we got that lead. They took away some things from us and made us go to secondary looks. Fortunately, we had kids step up. The biggest thing is that we are really proud of our defensive effort."