Dugalic powers Maine West past Fremd
It is events like Saturday night that Jarett Kirshner said makes him feel so honored to be the athletic director at Maine West High School.
Two girls basketball powers came together for a nonconference game televised live by CN100 on a night when money was raised for the research of Metastatic breast cancer.
"I woke up and had the opportunity to take my son Jake to see our kids compete in a regional wrestling meet," Kirshner said. "And then we were looking forward to later that night for a matchup of two state powers in our home gym and at the same time to bring the community together to raise funds for a very worthy cause that really hits home for some of our players."
The emotional night ended with Maine West taking a 59-42 victory over the Vikings, who fell behind 8-2 and 15-6.
Angela Dugalic showed all evening why she is a McDonald's All-American.
The 6-foot-4 senior finished with a game-high 21 points. Her game included everything from an around-the-back dribble to get to the basket, a terrific back flip pass for an assist to Jane Rothweiler and a devastating swat block on 10-foot baseline jumper by Fremd.
Not to mention 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 steals.
"It was a great game for Angela," said Warriors coach Kim de Marigny. "She can go in, she can go out. She can play defense and she is just a leader.
"Especially without Lena (Albo, the Warriors point guard out with a sprained ankle), Angela has had to step up and really take control."
Dylan Van Fleet collected 16 points, 8 steals and 6 assists while Rothweiler chipped in 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
"Kudos to Jane who stepped into Lena's point guard position to score 12 points, be a leader on the court and handle the ball against the extreme pressure by Fremd," said de Marigny.
Freshman Jaclyn Riedl's lean-in bank shot gave the Warriors (25-3) a 31-21 lead at intermission.
Rothweiler's layup at the third-quarter buzzer gave West it biggest lead at 49-30.
"You cant turn the ball over and have it result in automatic layups," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "If you don't take care of the basketball, you're going to get blown out by this team. And that's what they did to us.
"Credit to them. They created the turnovers but we can't give away easy shots. It's hard to defend turnover layups at the other end."
Senior Emily Klaczek led the Vikings (22-8) with 21 points while Ruthie Montella added 10.
"Maine West is amazing," said Klaczek, who will play in her third Mid-Suburban League championship game on Wednesday against Hersey. "They came out ready to play hard. It wasn't our game, but all the credit to them - they played hard.
"A lot of their points came from turnovers. We didn't hustle back and we gave them layups. That's something we have to work on."
Everyone gave Maine West officials credit for their work to present a showcase evening.
"It was awesome," Van Fleet said. "This is a really good cause so I'm glad we got a real lot of people out here today."
"Cancer is a terrible disease and we were hoping to raise some money to help researchers find a cure," de Marigny said. "Maybe one of the girls playing in this game tonight will be inspired and become one of the researchers to actually find a cure. We can only hope and pray that happens."
"There's so much pride in this school and community," Kirshner said. "And it's a night like this that reminds us how fortunate we are."