Hogen, Hersey handle Riverside-Brookfield

Hersey's Maggie Hogen went into Wednesday's night opening-round of the Season's End tourney with a career-high of 12 points.

The 5-foot-11 junior forward scored that many points in the third quarter against Riverside-Brookfield.

Throw in another bucket in the second period and Hogen produced a new career-high of 14 points as the Huskies (13-3) won their ninth straight with a 63-25 victory over the Bulldogs at the Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

“I just felt like I was being aggressive,” said Hogen of her productive third quarter, in which she scored 6 unanswered points to extend Hersey's lead to 35-9 with 5:22 left in the third quarter.

“My coaches (Mary Fendley and assistant Julia Barthel) told me to post up and of course I was getting good passes from my teammates.”

DePaul-bound Megan Rogowski, who finished with 12 points despite the usual extra attention by her opponent, handed out 6 assists.

“That's a very good Hersey team,” said Bulldogs coach Larry Rocco, whose team (6-8) fell behind 15-2 after one quarter. “Rogowski is outstanding. We didn't want her to beat us so we boxed her out with two defenders who did a good job. But she is a terrific player.

“And we let Hogen get away.”

Hogen, who was 7-of-9 from the floor, also added 14 rebounds in her big effort.

“Maggie worked hard to get open, she got good rebounding position, and she finished,” Fendley said.

Rogowski hit 2 free throws less than a minute into the game.

The Huskies led 11-0 with Rogowski scoring 4 of the points. Senior forward Eileen Zydek (7 points) added 5 in the rally and Stefanie Mueller had the other 2.

Sophomore Casey Weyhrich came off the bench to score 8 points for the Huskies while point guard Jen Hall added 7. Corinne Busby scored all 6 of her points in the second half.

Fendley was able to use each of her starters for less than a half.

Erin Hartwig (4 points), a 5-8 junior guard, came off the bench and scored her first varsity points with back-to-back steals and layups in the final 1:24 of the game.

“Our goal now is focusing on the Mid-Suburban East,” Fendley said. “It starts up again on Saturday against a very talented Prospect team (at Hersey at 7:30 p.m.). We'll spend a few days getting ready for them.”

The Huskies were sure ready for Riverside-Brookfield.

“One of our goals is to win two tournaments during the regular season,” said Hogen, whose team was coming off its second straight title in the Wheaton North Falcon Classic. “And we really wanted to start the new year off with a win.”

Oak Park-River Forest 60, Rolling Meadows 58: In Season's End action at Fenton High School, the Mustangs (11-6) dropped a close one.

Sophomore center Morgan Keller led Meadows with 20 points while freshman Jackie Kemph added 16.

Kemph had two 3-pointers while teammates Amanda Gunn (junior) and freshman Jennifer Vliet each had one.

Junior guard Stekara Hall led Oak Park with a game-high 30 points.