Barrington eliminates Fremd
Since the fifth grade in feeder basketball, the Barrington senior girls could not recall winning other than once against Fremd.
What a time they picked for win No. 2 in eight years.
After a pair of defeats to Fremd during the regular season, this time the No. 6-seeded Fillies were in a zone, literally, on Tuesday night in the Mundelein Class 4A sectional semifinal.
Using the 3-2 defense for the second straight time, the Fillies led Fremd 13-6 at intermission and didn’t let the No. 2 Vikings reach double figures until a 3-pointer by senior Bridget Kubis with 2:21 left in the third quarter.
That cut the Barrington lead to 21-11 but the Fillies withstood a formidable late rally by the Vikings and prevailed 38-33.
Barrington (21-11) advances to the sectional championship on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against No. 5 Zion-Benton (25-6).
Balanced scoring was the key for the Fillies, who finished second to Fremd in the Mid-Suburban West this season.
“The third time is the charm,” said Barrrington senior guard Abby Kirchoff, who helped the Fillies ice the win with 9 of 10 free throws in the final 1:49 to finish with 11 points, all at the free throw line. “This is one the one that really mattered. We came out like gangbusters with our defense and I think we in control the whole game.”
Senior Brook Chandor’s 16-footer off an assist from Kirchoff made it 6-4 with 1:34 left in the first quarter and the Fillies never trailed again.
Chandor finished with 10 points, followed by teammates Nicole Collins (8) and Shelby Whigham (6).
“It was amazing when we went into the half holding them to 6 points,” said Chandor, who had to leave both of the Fillies regional wins with a shoulder injury but was never bothered by it Tuesday. “Our defense was unbelievable in the first half. We actually used it in the state tournament last year against Wheeling (a 55-51 upset win in the regional final).”
Jaimie Groot hit Fremd’s only basket in the second quarter when her jumper tied the game at 6-6 with 4:53 left in the half.
The Fillies got a free throw by Lizzie Deuel, 2 free throws by Kirchoff and two layups by Collins (one off her own steal) to lead 13-6 at the break.
The Vikings had been a big third-quarter team all season, and got off to a good start in the period when Megan Gray raced in for a layup off an entry pass from Ashley McConnell to cut the deficit to 13-8.
However, the Fillies answered with a rebound layup by Collins (6 rebounds, 3 steals) and back-to-back 3-pointers from Chandor to pull away to a 21-8 advantage.
“Fremd (25-6) prided itself on its third quarter so we wanted to make sure we came out extra strong in that period, too,” said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. “I’m so proud of the kids. Playing a zone defense is something they hadn’t until these last few games. But we kind of looked at our opponents and thought that’s what we needed.”
Barrington enjoyed its biggest lead at 30-18, triggered by a 7-0 run midway through the third quarter.
The rally started when Whigham (5 rebounds, 2 assists) made a bank shot off an inbounds pass from Mass (2 steals, 2 rebounds) with 5:35 left.
“We were just so fired up to win,” Mass said. “They’ve been beating us since fifth grade. We’re always close but never quite beat them (except one time sophomore year 48-38). We weren’t going to let that happen tonight.”
Kubis and McConnell shared scoring honors for Fremd with 10 points apiece.
“One thing we aren’t going to do is make excuses,” said Fremd coach Dave Yates, whose team defeated Barrington 54-42 and 48-38 during the regular season. “Give them a ton of credit for knocking down tough shots. Every time we made a little run, they answered with a big shot. In all three match-ups with them, we worked on shutting down Kirchoff (with Kubis using her defensive prowess) and we did again this time. But their other kids knocked down big shot after big shot.”
McConnell hit a big 3-pointer which got Fremd to within 34-31 with 37 seconds left but Kirchoff’s 2 free throws with 23.6 seconds made it 36-31.
Gray’s rebound layup off a missed 3-pointers made it 36-33 but Kirchoff sealed the verdict with 2 more free throws with 7.3 second left.
“Abby took care business at the free throw line,” Barreiro said. “We had a lot of good minutes from our bench (Kiersten Tinkoff, Deuel and Sam Maasarani).
“And Nicole Collins made some big shots. She is so smart. She’s takes what people give her. Playing with four seniors, she probably feels like one out there, too.”
The Fremd seniors (Gray, Groot, Kubis, Megan Horn, Sarah Power and Mary Sorenson) helped make this one of the Vikes’ most successful seasons of the 2000s.
“Offensively, we had been playing some of our best basketball,” Yates said. “Unfortunately we picked tonight not to put up a lot of points.
“I’m so proud of these girls for fighting right to the end. It’s not an easy thing to fight back from a half when you score only 6 points.
“It’s a testament to these kids. A lot of teams would have shut down after that.”