Rough first half frustrating for Fremd
Fremd’s girls basketball team traveled to Wilmette on Monday night to face Chicago-area ranked Loyola Academy.
It was a special night for the Ramblers, who celebrated “Senior and Faculty Night.”
The home team concluded the evening with another celebration — its sixth win over a Chicago-area ranked team this season.
Anna Schueler scored 13 points and Lauren Kriz added 12 as eight different girls scored for Loyola in a 53-42 triumph over the Vikings.
“Fremd (16-4) is a quality team,” said Loyola coach Jeremy Schoenecker, whose team is 16-6. “This was the 12th ranked team (from the Chicago area) we have played this season.
“One of our goals was to be at least .500 against all of them and that’s something we accomplished tonight.”
The Ramblers have limited their opponents to an average of 40 points.
Fremd had scored 60 or more points in 9 of its last 10 games.
“That was probably our poorest first half all season,” said Fremd coach Dave Yates, whose team trailed 27-21 at the break. “If there is a lesson to be learned, it’s that you can’t go to an opponent’s gym and not be prepared on its senior night.
“They got control early, set the tempo, and we were chasing all night. You don’t want to be in that situation against a team like this.”
Fremd was in a decent situation for the most of the first quarter.
Freshman Haley Gorecki’s beautiful running 12-footer with her left hand brought the Vikes to within 11-10 with 25 seconds.
But the Ramblers took off on a 10-2 run and led 21-12 on a rebound layup by Margaret Nick.
Gorecki’s 23-foot 3-pointer from the top of the key got the Vikes to within 25-21 with 17 seconds left in the half but that’s as close as they would get.
Gorecki finished with 18 points (with 2 3-pointers) while teammate Jessi Wiedemann added 14 with 2 3-pointers.
“The freshman (Gorecki) is a very nice player,” Schoenecker. “She is very poised. She can shoot from outside or go to the basket.”
Ashley McConnell’s 5 points ended a streak of 12 straight double-digit games for the standout junior guard.
“I thought Anna Schueler did a very nice job making (McConnell) work for every shot,” Schoenecker said. “We knew we had to contain those three players (Wiedemann, McConnell and Gorecki) and hope their other players didn’t do too much damage.”
Loyola did some damage going to the basket on its fastbreak.
“And they did a nice job spreading out and attacking the basket,” Yates said.
Gorecki’s 3-pointer with two seconds left in the third period got Fremd to within 33-27 but Loyola never let the visitors closer in the final eight minutes.
“We learned that we have to come out and play hard in the first half,” Gorecki said. “We weren’t playing as tough as we should have.
“We didn’t play at our top level. We made a little run in the third quarter but it was a little too late. We know we must be ready at the start.”
Juniors Bernie Williams and Marilyn Lortz had their baskets for Fremd in the first quarter.
Gorecki’s 18 points were the third-highest output in her career. She had 23 against Lakes and 22 against Hononegah.
“Haley did a nice job,” Yates said. “But we have to have all our kids showing up to play — and we have all season. For some reason, we didn’t this game. But credit Loyola. They played hard.”