King, Rolling Meadows bounce Bogan in return to Willowbrook

Megan King returned to the Subway Chicagoland Girls Prep Basketball Classic in style on Monday afternoon.

The Rolling Meadows senior guard was in Villa Park as a freshman and sophomore with her Mustang teams that went on to finish second in the Class 4A state tourney.

"It's fun to come back," said the 5-foot-6 King, who helped made the Mustangs' return a successful one by hitting four 3-pointers (12 points) in a 53-38 triumph over Bogan at Willowbrook High School.

"We didn't come here last year so it shows how much we have improved to be able to be here this year."

"Obviously, it's an honor to play in this event," said Rolling Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "This was an opportunity to play a team we didn't know well, and they didn't know us well."

Bogan did know how to win at Villa Park.

Coach Gary Bell's Bengals (11-7) had posted seven straight wins in the classic and last year went on to place fourth in the Class 3A state tournament.

"Rolling Meadows did a good job," said Bell, who is in his 14th season as the Chicago Public school. "They've been downstate like us. We played poorly for some reason and we didn't shoot well (24 percent from 2-point attempts and 18 percent from 3-point range)."

Meadows shot 42 percent (17-of-40) from 2-point range, and King's four 3-pointers were the Mustangs' only long-range buckets from 14 attempts.

"They just went in today," said King who made 4-of-6 and owns a career-high of 7 in one game as a junior. "Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. As a team, we got the ball in the right spots. My shots were all because my teammates gave me the basketball."

"As nice as it was to see Megan knock down those 3s, I thought she worked her tail off on defense, too," Kirkorsky said.

Junior guard Kyra Spiwak also sparked the offense with her game-high 17 points, including 5-of-7 free throws. She also had 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Spiwak preferred to talk about defense, as the Mustangs held the Bengals to a combined 15 points in the middle quarters.

"We played well, especially on defense," she said. "Everyone helped every one out. We were very unselfish and that's what helped us win the game."

The game was close for most of the first three quarters.

Meadows' biggest lead was in the second quarter when 2 free throws by Meghan Slowik made it 20-14.

Meadows gradually pulled away late in the third quarter, grabbing a 36-25 cushion late in the quarter when Spiwak made a nice move for an 8-footer with 45 seconds left.

"Kyra just impacts the game in so many ways," Kirkorsky said. "When she is in attacking mode, it opens up so many things for the entire team. And she was defending their best player."

King helped put the game out of reach when she hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for a 47-32 lead with 4:12 left.

Teammate Katherine Nolan contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds.

"Katherine has been a presence on both ends of the floor the last few weeks," Kirkorsky said of the 6-foot-1 junior forward. "It's great to see consistency from her."

Junior Morgan Campagna chipped in 4 points with 5 rebounds while Hannah Mickey had 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 points.

Meghan Slowik (4 points, 3 rebounds) and Melissa Spiwak also got into the scoring column for the Mustangs, who improved to 14-7.

"I thought Meghan (Slowik) was really solid off the bench," added Kirkorsky, whose Mustangs will host Wheeling on Friday night.