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Barrington explodes in second half to win regional title

In the span of less than six minutes, Barrington turned a close game into a runaway.

Midway through the third quarter at Thursday night's Class 4A Streamwood girls basketball regional title game, the Fillies and McHenry were tied at 27-27.

Then Barrington exploded, scoring 23 of the next 24 points, and when the Warriors called time out with 6:20 remaining in the game the Fillies had opened up a 50-28 lead.

They went on to a 62-32 regional championship victory.

"The kids were poised, focused, and wanted to win," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "McHenry is a great program and we have such respect for them, they played hard, but I'm just so proud of our team. Defensively, we did a decent job in the first half, and then the kids responded in the second half and made some nice adjustments. I couldn't be happier for them."

Fillies freshman Sophie Swanson scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while teammate Taylor Thompson, a senior, finished with 22 points, 9 boards, 4 blocked shots and 3 steals.

"It feels really good to see all the hard work pay off," said Thompson. "It's pretty cool. Our defense is something we've really been focusing on in practice, working constantly to improve, and it's great to see that it all worked out for us in the end."

Barrington's strong effort on defense saw McHenry shoot only 1-for-23 from the 3-point line.

"We all worked together and pulled together tonight in the tough moments," said Fillies senior Anna Mae King, "and our bench and our fans were just super awesome. They helped us get it done.

"This is just a very satisfying win," added King. "We were hopeful coming in, and all our hard work paid off. It's very exciting and very rewarding."

Thompson started the Barrington run in the latter stages of the third period with an offensive rebound and layup, then teammate Shanna Turczynski hit a 3-pointer and Swanson followed with a driving layup.

The Fillies kept rolling, and when Swanson opened the fourth quarter with a 3 then followed that up with a 3-point play, the advantage was at 22.

"I think we just started taking our time and playing as a team," said Swanson of the Fillies' second-half surge. "We just had to be patient with the ball, and look for the open shots."

Barrington held McHenry to only 4 fourth quarter points to squash any Warriors hopes for a late rally, as Swanson hit for 10 points in the final stanza and Michaela Goetze and Laura Mahlum made some clutch free throws.

Turczynski and Mahlum each scored 5 points for the Fillies.

"Just in general, we knew that if we could keep them in the 30s, we'd have a chance," added Barreiro. "Sophie was just unbelievable tonight, and Taylor played a great game and a smart game as well. She got a couple of early fouls then figured out what she needed to do to defend. We forced them into some quick shots and that helped.

"The kids did a wonderful job of boxing out and not giving them many second chances."

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