Hersey rights the ship, and gets a tournament title to boot

After falling to defending Class 4A state champion Maine West in its opener and then to Grayslake Central in its third game, Hersey's girls basketball team stood at 1-2 overall.

But then, not only did the Huskies zoom right over the .500 mark in less than a week, they also claimed a tournament championship in the process.

Coach Mary Fendley's club put together a three-game winning streak and ended up as champion of the Bison Classic at Buffalo Grove.

The Huskies got to 4-2 with wins over Maine South, Mother McAuley and Libertyville, three teams with a combined record of 12-6.

"We were really behind the eight ball but then we beat two teams who had not lost (Maine South and Mother McAuley)," said Fendley, whose team is now 5-2 after Tuesday's win at Palatine. "So we had a lot of confidence (going into the final game vs. Libertyville)."

Sure enough, Hersey stopped Libertyville with five players reaching double figures - a first for Fendley in her 22 seasons - to win the title.

Leading the way for Hersey was Mary McGrath with 14 points while four other players (Meghan Mrowicki, Jordan Carlquist, Katy Eidle and Mary Kate Fahey, who also handed out 10 assists) also scored in double digits.

"We have really good team play in the sense when we know when to make the right decision to pass the ball," said McGrath, a 6-foot-1 junior. "No one is out there playing for herself. We just have great team chemistry."

Talent galore: Saturday's Chicagoland Invitational at Fremd High School features one of the most talented events in prep girls basketball.

Fremd coach and showcase director Dave Yates has many of the top teams and players in the area competing along with some top teams from Indiana and Wisconsin. The first game begins at 10:30 a.m. and the last at 7 p.m.

Northwest suburbs teams participating are Hersey (vs. Bartlett at 12:45 p.m.), Maine West (vs. Montini at 2 p.m.) and Fremd (vs. Crown Point, IN. at 5. p.m.).

Best start: Elk Grove coach Jen Buxton got her Grenadiers off to their best start (4-1 through Monday) in her six seasons in charge of the program which won a state championship in 1981.

The Grens took second at the Vernon Hills tourney which was won by Lake County power Lake Forest.

"We had a lot of people step up because we weren't playing with our full-strength roster," Buxton said.

In its first game of the season, EG had four players reach double figures - Hannah Gryzik, Megan Murray, Lili Duckmann and Alyssa Trausch.

"Each game someone different stepped up," Buxton said.

Only a freshman, Julia Masnica scored 15 (five 3-pointers) of her 17 points in the first half of a victory over Antioch.

"The key for us was staying mentally tough," Buxton added. "We had games where we got down or were not shooting well and we fought through it. To show that mental toughness early in the season is exciting.

"Each game we play a different person can step up depending on who we are playing and the matchups. We also have a lot of role players that do a nice job doing things that are not always on the stat sheet, but are key to our team success. Overall the chemistry of the team is really nice to see. Everyone is working for each other.

On the road: Rolling Meadow became the first Mid-Suburban League team to win a game outside of Illinois.

The Mustangs (3-3) crossed the border to play in the Brookfield Central (WI) Thanksgiving Shootout.

They topped Martin Luther (WI) 56-40 as Madi Niedbala was named the Shootout Player of the Game and the W7 Productions Player of the Game was Colleen Cox.

New look Bison: When the season started, BG coach Steve Kolodziej and assistant Brian Linhart were ready to roll with five veteran seniors.

But after a bruised hand bone for Zori Angelova and ankle injury to Alyssa Ramos, a few sophomores and a freshman had to step in.

"It made Brad and I question what we were going to do we had a vision of what it was going to look like and now it doesn't look that way," Kolodziej said. "Now we're painting a new picture."

The picture hasn't been all that bad as the Bison came out of their own tourney at 3-3 and now stand at 4-3 after a win on Tuesday night at Hoffman Estates.

Freshman Kora Kipley (career-high 17 points against Barrington) and sophomores Leah McKenna and Grace Vellers helped pick up the pace while seniors Kendra Lee, Macy Floro and Megan Fontanetta led the way.

"It's put more ownership on our three seniors who have been playing," Kolodziej said. "Not only making them be better leaders but better communicators. It put a lot more responsibility on our younger kids to step into situations they haven't been in, but they did a great job at it."