Career-high 34 for Eidle as Hersey gets No. 499 for Fendley
At one point as she dribbled the basketball across the half-court line, Hersey point guard Katy Eidle shouted out for her team to run a play called 'Wisconsin'.
Seems a little funny because Eidle is a Michigan recruit.
But there's nothing funny for opponents when it comes to stopping Eidle.
Especially on Saturday at Glenbrook South, as the 6-foot junior put up a career-high 34 points, bettering her previous high of 32 as a freshman against Bartlett.
Classmate Meghan Mrowicki added 20 points with 13 rebounds (8 offensive) as Hersey (17-3), ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, rolled past the Titans 67-48 at the Titan Dome in Glenview.
Eidle also had 3 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, of which two she went in for layups.
"She is a heck of a player," said Titans assistant coach Ariana Mazza-Bensyl, who was filling in for head coach Scott Nemecek. "She is a very strong player."
Mrowicki's steal and assist on Eidle's layup gave Hersey an 8-3 lead when Mazza-Bensyl called for a timeout with 4:56 left in the first quarter.
After freshman Gina Davorija (7 points) and Eidle exchanged 3-pointers, the Huskies led 13-6 at the mask timeout (3:09).
Junior Sidney Rogers' 3-pointer got the hosts to within 17-11 before senior Val Allen's layup off an assist from Eidle put Hersey ahead 18-11 after one quarter.
A rebound and assist by junior Kelsey Neary (7 assists, 6 rebounds) led to Eidle's 17-footer from near the top of the key that gave Hersey its biggest lead (27-16) of the first half.
The Titans cut it to 34-28 when Rogers drove through defenders for a layup with 1:46 left in the half.
However, back-to-back layups by Mrowicki and Eidle in the final 10 seconds put Hersey ahead 38-28 at the break.
Rogers, who led GBS with 14 points, and sophomore Chloe Gonzalez (12 points) combined for all of South's 17 points in the second quarter.
The closest GBS got in the third quarter was when Gonzalez hit a 3-pointer to make it 38-31 with 6:15 left.
Mrowicki's half-circle drive through the lane for a layup put Hersey ahead 51-38 going into the fourth quarter.
South (10-7), the champion of the Wheaton North tourney two weeks ago, never got closer in the final period.
"We played a tough Glenbrook North team (won 58-41) the night before," Mazza-Bensyl said. "So coming off a night game and playing this afternoon, we were tired. But the girls played their best and hardest. Some of our shots didn't fall but turnovers killed us."
Those came by a Hersey team that has been working on a new defense. Leading the way were Mrowicki (6 steals) and Eidle (4).
"We've been trying some new things defensively," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley, whose team has won six straight and three in the new year. "These past three games (started with a 59-50 win over Glenbrook North on Tuesday) we've been trying to figure out where the holes are and trying to tighten them up. I hope we continue to do that because you want to hit your stride at the right time."
Fendley is close to hitting a milestone of 500 wins. Saturday was No. 499.
"We are hoping we can do it for her on Tuesday (at Buffalo Grove)," Eidle said. "That would be fun.
"This win felt great. We had a little scare at Glenbrook North (trailed 15-2) but once we got into the swing of things with our new defense and we knew how to work with it on our fastbreak, we just started playing with each other again and doing well again. It felt great in this game and I'm excited to see what we do in the future the way we are playing now."