Quick start favors Maine West

Maine West’s girls basketball team got the early jump on visiting Niles North Friday night.

Hall of Fame coach Derril Kipp watched his girls jumped ahead 8-2 after one quarter and go on to post a 41-28 triumph in the Central Suburban North contest.

Junior forward Brittany Collins (14 points, 12 rebounds) and junior center Julia Huinker (12 points) were top scorers for West, which held the Vikings to 1 field goal in the first quarter.

Huinker scored half of her points in the first eight minutes.

“Julia is playing real well,” Kipp said. “She is making shots and playing the game well. She is starting to get settled in. That mean teams can’t double team Brittany as much.” Senior Georgia Petersen had a 3-pointer for the Warriors (4-8, 2-2) in the second quarter. Senior guard Alexia Prosperi scored all 6 of her points at the free throw line where she made 6-of-9.

Bridget Burger, Erin Ross and Tanja Vukasin also made it into the scoring column for West.

Julia

Fremd 57, Sterling 45: Senior guard Ashley McConnell delivered a season-high 27 points as Fremd won its first game in the Sterling Shootout 57-45 over the host school.

McConnell was consistent throughout the game, scoring 16 points in the first half and 11 in the

second as the Vikings improved to 9-2.

“Ashley was on fire,” said Fremd coach Dave Yates. “She was very consistent. And she did it every which way — drives, pullups and 3s. She did a really nice job.”

Also coming up with a solid performance was freshman guard Brianna Lewis, who collected 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assist and 2 steals.

“Brianna looked real good,” Yates added. “She probably played 75 percent of the game and gave us a good lift doing some nice things.”

Other key Viking performers were Hannah LaBarge (4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals), Catherine Ernst (3 rebounds, 3 steals), Bernie Williams (5 points, 3 steals) and Marilyn Lortz (5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals).

Hersey 42, Grayslake Central 32: Senior forward Erica Hill scored 8 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Hersey improved to 5-4 with the nonconference win in Grayslake.

Junior Morgan Harris led the Huskies with 13 points while seniors Ashley Raulli added 10 and Casey Weyhrich 6.

Hersey trailed 27-22 after three quarters but outscored the Rams 20-5 in the final eight minutes.

“We didn’t play very good defense in the first half,” said Huskies coach Mary Fendley. “We just weren’t hitting on all cylinders. I don’t know if it was the long bus ride or what but we weren’t playing well.”

Until the final quarter,

“Then everything came together,” Fendley said. “Our defense starting clicking and that was our catalyst. Especially Erica Hill on our press. That changed the momentum toward us.

“Ashley (Raulli) played her best game of the season, We had a hard time scoring in the first half but Ashley was able to knock down some shots down that kept us in the game when we were struggling.”

Harris helped lead the offense in the final period while Hill provided strong defense.

“It was a struggle but we are thrilled to come out with win,” Fendley said. “Now we have a huge game (today at 6 p.m.) at Elk Grove.”