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Rogowski's record 42 points pace Hersey

Buffalo Grove guard KC Dunne has been battling against Hersey guard Megan Rogowski for the past nine years.

“When I was at St. Mary's (Buffalo Grove), we'd put three players on her (Rogowski played for St. Emily in Mount Prospect) and she would still lead their team in scoring,” Dunne said.

It seemed like BG could have put five players on Rogowski on Tuesday night and the senior all-stater would have found a way to score.

Rogowski connected for a school-record 42 points to lead the Huskies past host Buffalo Grove 68-60 in the Mid-Suburban East opener.

The 5-foot-10 do-it-all guard shot 50 percent from the floor (15-of-30) while converting 4-of-13 from 3-point range.

Rogowski broke the former Hersey single-game mark of 36 points set by Abbie Willenborg Gutzmer, who is the girls volleyball head coach at Vernon Hills.

Even Dunne admitted she'd never seen Rogowski better.

“She was great,” said Dunne, who also happened to golf against Rogowski in the fall. “We got killed on the boards. We got outrebounded offensively and defensively and we couldn't slow down Rogowski.”

“She is a fantastic player,” said Bison coach Pat Dudle of the DePaul-bound Rogowski. “She had a fantastic night. We did not have an answer for her.”

The Bison answered the Huskies quite often in the first half, keeping it close all the way.

The score was tied at 24-24 before Rogowski's second 3-pointer and 19th point gave Hersey a 27-24 lead at the break.

Scoring was not the full extent of Rogowski's performance as she finished with 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.

“It's a team game but Megan performed great,” said Huskies coach Mary Fendley. “We might have been down by 20 points in the first half without her (scoring 19 of the Huskies 27 points).

“Four different times she has had 34 points in a game in her career. This time, she got the school record.”

It's just another of many records the school's all time leading scorer holds.

“I was being guarded so tight by KC,” Rogowski said. “But my teammates would hit the screens so well, it help me get some good looks.

“Buffalo Grove (1-6) is very tough. They put good pressure on you and they have very good shooters. I've known KC for a long time now and it's always a fun rivalry with her.”

Eileen Zydek (9 points) helped Hersey (5-3) control the boards with 10 rebounds, including 8 on the offensive glass.

“Their ability to hit the offensive boards gave Megan a few extra opportunities,” Dudle said. “They pressed us well. When our guards did break it, we did a nice job feeding the ball to Alanna (Zawlocki) and she finished .”

Zawlocki led BG with 18 points, followed by Emily Cho (12) and Emily Georgoulis (10). Cho scored 11 of her points in the final quarter with some nice drives to the basket.

BG played without 6-foot sophomore forward Bailey North, who is recovering from a concussion.

The Huskies broke the game open in the third quarter when Rogowski scored 14 of her team's 19 points.

Stefanie Mueller's driving layup gave Hersey its biggest lead at 48-34 late in the period.

Point guard Jen Hall chipped in 7 points while directing the Huskies' offense.

“I didn't think we were playing to our ability in the first half,” Fendley said. “I know our press is good, but it was lethargic so we talked at half about picking it up. And we helped each other on defense.

“Buffalo Grove works hard and has good shooters. You never feel safe with any lead because they have so many good 3-point shooters.”

But Fendley had the night's big shooter. Rogowski was the shooting star.

JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.comBuffalo Grove's Alanna Zawlocki, left, tries to maintain possession of the ball despite the defense of Hersey's Jen Hall.