Rolling Meadows really puts on a show vs. Elk Grove

There sure was a lot going on, in addition to basketball, Friday night at the Rolling Meadows gym.

First, Rolling Meadows science teacher Tim Patterson was spot-on in an impressive rendition of the national anthem, then at halftime phys ed teacher Jim Voyles kissed a pig — brought in from a farm in DeKalb — to the delight of the fans as part of a school fundraiser that raised over $10,000 for an orphanage in Ghana.

And though the Mustangs team was in the locker room and missed the big halftime smooch, they assuredly didn’t mind — not with the performance they put on in the first half against visiting Elk Grove.

Led by junior Alexis Glasgow’s 19 points, Rolling Meadows used a 26-2 run during the first and second quarters en route to a 30-9 halftime lead over the Grenadiers in the Mid-Suburban East.

The Mustangs won 59-42 as Jackie Kemph pitched in with 13 points for first-year coach Ryan Kirkorsky, who was able to score a win over the team that he’d coached for the previous four seasons before the move to Meadows.

“It was very emotional,” said Kirkorsky of facing his former team. “There were some strange moments where I was a calling out a way to defend a player that I had coached before.

“They ran a couple of plays that I used to run, and they knew some of the plays that we were running.”

Junior forward Jenny Vliet said the game meant a lot to Kirkorsky.

“I don’t want to call him out or anything,” said the Mustangs junior “but he was really nervous.”

Elk Grove (5-3, 1-1), led by Melissa Solorio’s 17 points, used a deliberate style of play to try to slow down the high-scoring Mustangs (9-0, 2-0), and it worked early on as the Grens grabbed a 7-4 lead.

Then Kemph, Glasgow and 6-foot-1 junior center Ashley Montanez (8 points, 10 rebounds) led a Mustangs charge that saw Meadows put the game out of reach.

“We wanted to be patient and set the tone,” said Grens coach Kathie Swanson, “and get the shots that we wanted to take.

“But we weren’t able to execute our offense at the speed we wanted to, and we made some mental mistakes on defense. We’re a much better defensive team than we showed tonight.”

Senior guard Kelly Naughton scored 11 points for Elk Grove while Taylor Brown and Diamond Boyd each pitched in with 6.

Vliet, who along with teammate Chloe Prodanovic celebrated their birthdays Friday with the victory, added 9 points for Meadows.

“We used our defense to fuel our run tonight,” said Vliet.

“We had to stay disciplined on ‘D’,” said Glasgow, who hit four 3-pointers, “because they were using stalling tactics. Finally things opened up for us, and then we were able to show off our agressiveness on the offensive end.”