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Rolling Meadows maintains East lead

Despite a 92-37 victory by Rolling Meadows over Buffalo Grove two weeks ago, the two girls basketball teams were tied 10-10 late in the first quarter in their Mid-Suburban East second-round game on Wednesday.

But that’s when the state’s No. 3-ranked Class 4A team kicked into another gear.

With standout guard Jackie Kemph scoring 13 of her game-high 20 points, the Mustangs went on a 20-1 tear to break the game open en route to a 62-37 victory.

Meadows improved to 21-1 and 7-0, remaining 1 game in front of Elk Grove (15-8, 6-1) in the East. The two teams will play on the Grens’ floor at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

“That will not be an easy game,” said Mustangs junior forward Ashley Montanez (10 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals), who can make it look so easy when she finishes layups on the Mustangs’ fastbreak. “We have to play our game.”

The Mustangs’ game was without the services of all-area junior forward Jenny Vliet for a good portion of the game. Despite battling illness, she managed to pull down 8 rebounds before being sidelined in the second half.

“With Jenny out we needed other kids to step up and do all the little things she does for us,” said Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky. “And I thought it was the best game I’ve seen Alexis (Glasgow) play all season.”

Glasgow, who had to switch from the perimeter to a post, collected 11 points, 3 assists and 3 steals.

“It was good for us to be put in different positions with the playoffs coming up,” Glasgow said. “Because we know a lot of team are scouting us and we don’t know what they are going to do against us. So it’s definitely good to be able to play other positions. I knew I had take over some of the rebounding without Jenny.”

“It wasn’t so much about Alexis’ points but she made her teammates better and more physical on defense. I thought Ashley (Montanez) and Morgan (Keller) played very well, too.”

Keller finished with 10 points, including the first two buckets of the fourth quarter which gave the Mustangs a 50-33 lead.

Midway through the third quarter Buffalo Grove had closed to within 13 points twice at 38-25 on a layup by senior Bailey North and 40-27 on a 17-footer by freshman Natalie Dimitrov.

“The last time we played Buffalo Grove we shot extremely well and they (BG) didn’t shoot real well,” Kirkorsky said. “So we told the girls this would be a tighter game.”

Juniors Elizabeth Vasilogambros (4 points) and Katie Shewmon (3 points) came off the bench to contribute offense for the Mustangs.

Sophomore guard Julie Jambrone, who hit a 3-pointer for the game’s first points, led the Bison (6-14, 2-5) with 9 points.

North, whose 17-footer tied the game at 10-10, and junior guard Sara Brawley each had 6 points.

Brawley hit two key 3-pointers late in the third quarter.

“Our kids played hard, no doubt,” said BG coach Steve Kolodziej. “But when you turn the ball over 26 times it’s tough to win. You are not going to beat many teams, let alone an outstanding team like Rolling Meadows, when you lose that many opportunities to get a shot off.”

Nine different Bison had at least one basket.

“If we are going to finish the season strong, which I know we can,” said Kolodziej, “it will come down to hustling and playing consistent basketball.”

  Buffalo Grove’s Alyssa Mills tries to drive to the basket between Rollin Meadows’ Allie Kemph, left, and Ashley Montanez. JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Buffalo Grove’s Bailey North, middle, tries to regain control of the ball as she goes up against Rolling Meadows defenders Alexis Glasgow, left, and Ashley Montanez during Wednesday’s game. JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Buffalo Grove’s Angela Budimir has her shot blocked by Rolling Meadows’ Jenny Vliet during Wednesday’s game. JOE LEWNARD/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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