Back to the grind as Hersey edges Conant

Hersey's girls basketball team turned in the epitome of a grind-it-out victory on Tuesday night at its own Ken Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

The Huskies trailed 7-0 right off the bat and never led until the final 53.5 seconds when senior Juliette Vainisi drove hard to the basket for a layup and completed the 3-point play for a 43-42 lead.

A free throw by sophomore Kelly Weyhrich with 46 seconds left and 2 more by classmate Claire Gritt with 21.4 seconds were the final points in Hersey's dramatic 46-42 comeback win over Conant.

The thrilling game could have been titled the Mid-Suburban League championship II.

It featured a pair of 20-game winning teams from the MSL West and East who finished second in their divisions behind state-ranked teams Fremd and Prospect, who play in Wednesday's championship game.

"We (Hersey and Conant) both played well against great competition all season," said Vainisi, who also turned in her usual top defensive effort. "We knew this was going to be a tough game. It was crazy.

"We gave everything we had after the first half. We knew we had it step it up offensively and defensively."

Stepping up big in the second half was Huskies junior Maggie Berigan, who scored 14 of her game-high 18 points and went 8-for-8 from the field along with grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.

"Oh gosh, her shooting was great," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley, whose team improved to 21-6. "She just really took advantage of the open looks she got and a lot of shots were from 15 and 16 feet."

Berigan's second-half performance did not go unnoticed by Conant coach Deirdre Naughton, whose club is 20-5 with losses only to 20-win teams.

"To come here on their floor, and play as hard as we did, I've got to give Hersey a lot of credit and that No. 44 (Berigan) had a great half," Naughton said. "It just comes down to the simple things for us - simple passes, some turnovers and splitting free throws."

Conant senior Alyssa Wachal came off the bench to grab a team-high 8 rebounds and 6 points. Classmate Haley Anderson pulled down 4 rebounds while junior Nireet Dhillon scored 6 points and handed out 4 assists.

"We'll get back at it," Naughton said. "We're excited to go back in the gym for the next four or five days and get back to the fundamentals."

Sophomore Jorie Wachal, who led Conant with 13 points (all in the first half), hit a 14-foot pullup jumper to give Conant its biggest lead at 22-12.

Senior Annie Korff hit a 16-footer and then scored again on a fastbreak layup off one of Vainisi's 7 assists to get Hersey to within 22-16 at half.

Korff, a four-year varsity player, finished with 8 points in her final home game which ended eight straight years of a Korff playing in the Carter Gymnasium.

Her sister Kathryn, who was on hand for the game, also played four straight seasons prior to Annie's freshman year.

Conant got the lead back up to 8 points when senior Lexi Zades came off the bench and fired home a 3-pointer to make it 36-28, just moments after she converted a pair of free throws.

A 10-footer by four-year varsity member Katie Lomas (9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) in the lane had the Cougars up 40-32 with 7:10 left in the game.

The Huskies narrowed the deficit to 42-38 when Gritt (6 points) scored her first basket with drive off a pass from Weyhrich (4 assists).

Two free throws by Berigan made it 42-40 with 2:19 left.

Conant missed the front end of two bonus opportunities before Vainisi made her big drive to the basket to give Hersey its first lead.

"That was so big," said Fendley, who also got key baskets by sophomore Gina Miklasz (3-pointer) and senior Kristen Jackson. "Just Juliette's willingness to take the clutch shot there and then to hit the free throw."

With its earlier win over Fremd, Hersey has the distinction of defeating two Class 4A No. 1 sectional seeds - Fremd (at Palatine) and Conant (at Geneva).

"Our defense wasn't too bad the whole game," Fendley said. "But we sure had a hard time getting going on offense. Credit Conant. They did a nice job of not allowing us a lot of shots."