Callahan, Buffalo Grove go deep against Round Lake

Maddy Callahan never shot a 3-pointer as a member of the Thomas Middle School girls basketball team or the Buffalo Grove freshman 'A' squad.

"I played post my whole life," said the Buffalo Grove junior guard. "I just started getting 3-point range going into my sophomore year."

Callahan, who wears No. 14 for Paul Konerko of the White Sox, is now hitting 3-pointers like Konerko hits home runs.

She added three more to her total on Monday night - all in the game's first 12 minutes - and finished with a game-high 17 points as No. 11-seeded Buffalo Grove topped No. 21 Round Lake 64-15 in the play-in game of the Bison's Class 4A regional.

Callahan scored 12 points in the first six minutes of the game and BG led 15-2 after one quarter.

"Maddy has been doing a real good job of letting the game to come to her," said Bison second-year coach Steve Kolodziej. "She isn't forcing anything. She is a tough matchup.

"She has committed a lot of time to becoming the offensive player she is."

The 5-foot-8 CalIahan said she was too short to be a post on the varsity, so she had to work on her 3-point shot to play an outside position. It's obviously paid off.

Just three games ago, she tied Andrea DiPrima's single-game school record of seven 3-pointers against Elk Grove.

Callahan's second 3-pointer in the first quarter on Monday gave BG a 14-0 lead with 2:05 left.

"I was just really nervous before the game," Callahan said. "It's the playoffs. If you lose, you're done. My teammate gave me real good passes."

For the second time this season, everyone on the team scored at least 1 points, including Meyer, who scored all 8 of her points in the first half.

Maddie Welter, Natali Dimitrova and Kristen McClennan each tossed in 7 points while Lauren McCourt came off the bench to add 6 points. Kim Herzog (3-of-4) and Bri Kolbus (2-of-2) led BG Bison at the free throw line.

The Bison found Callahan right from the get-go.

Meyer flipped a pass inside to Callahan, who made the layup just 11 seconds into the age contest.

"Buffalo Grove is in a different class than us," said Round Lake coach Howard Conkling. "We like our kids but they were just outclassed in every phase of the game."

Senior Justice Clark hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the fourth quarter and led the Panthers (5-23) with 9 points.

"We're happy that all out kids came to practice every day, worked hard and we did get 5 wins," Conkling said.

The Bison, who have won three straight, will take a record of 12-16 into today's 8 p.m. semifinal against No. 6 Zion-Benton.

"The girls are playing well," Kolodziej said. "We will really have to execute our defensive game plan well (against Zion-Benton). They have two good post players.

"Offensively, we can't let them dictate the flow of the game which they do a good job at. If we let them do that, we are in for a long night."