Fremd passes opening test against Elk Grove
Fremd's girls basketball team passed its first exam on Tuesday night at Elk Grove.
Literally.
"I think the strength of our team is that we can put any five kids on the floor and all are very good passers," said Fremd coach Dave Yates
The Vikings tossed the ball over all over the floor, many times in transition, en route to a 65-22 victory over the Grenadiers in both teams' season openers.
Haley Gorecki (13 points) was at the forefront of the passing party, dishing off 6 assists as the highly regarded Vikings sped to an 11-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the opening-round match of the Turkey Thriller.
Sophomore Grace Tworek was on the closing end of a terrific five-pass fastbreak; her layup just before the halftime buzzer gave Fremd a 33-8 lead.
Junior Brianna Lewis, who tossed a nifty no-look pass from the baseline to Tworek (6 points) for a layup and a 20-4 lead, also reached double figures for Fremd with 11 points.
"We were a little nervous at the beginning but after that it was all good and we knew what we had to do," said junior Erin Lenahan, who scored 9 points. "It took a while to settle down but once we did we started hitting shots."
The Grens made their first shot from the floor when 6-foot-4 senior center Amber Lindfors layup dropped in with eight seconds left in the first quarter.
The Southeast Missouri State recruit finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds, six on the offensive end.
"We didn't get the ball inside as much as I would have liked," said Jennifer Guth, who was making her debut as Elk Grove's coach. "But when we did, Amber looked real good. For us to be successful, we're going to have to keep finding her."
Finding the way to the Elk Grove gymnasium were DePaul women's coach Doug Bruno and Northwestern assistant women's coach Alison Guth, the former Buffalo Grove standout who helped lead the Bison to the 2000 Class 4A state title.
Alison is the sister of Jennifer, who as also a standout for BG. Jennifer was able to be at sister's first game as a collegiate coach when Alison was an assistant at Loyola.
Jennifer Guth knew her Grens had a mighty task for their opener, going up against one of the state's elite teams.
"We know we're going to see great competition, so you might as well go up against the best right away," she said. "It's tough when you have young ballhandlers going against their tough pressure defense. But it's a learning curve and just pushes us to get better."
Yates has a lot of talented players pushing each other with a roster of 17, of which 13 played and scored points on Wednesday.
"I think our depth is real strong," he said. "Lauren Glaser (junior) came in and hit some nice shots (two 3-pointers). Haley Williams (sophomore) did a real nice job and Caroline Macius (senior) came in and played well.
"We must work on our free throw shooting," said Yates, whose team was 12-of-31.
"It wasn't our best game," Gorecki said. "I think we all can play a lot better. There might have been some nerves with this being our first game. But it's great to get one game in already and this gives us confidence to keep moving forward."
Elk Grove also struggled at the free throw line, converting 4 of 13.
Coincidentally it was a free throw by Abbey Sloan with 1:33 left in the first quarter that served as the Grens' first point of the season.
O'Rayn MacAvoy chipped in 4 points for the Grens while Sarah Pauscher and Alex Masnica also had buckets.
"I thought the girls' energy and effort overall for four quarters never stopped," Guth said "And that was one of our goals."