Zion-Benton heats up, stops Buffalo Grove's run
In a close game from start to finish, Buffalo Grove's girls basketball team got the upper hand on Zion-Benton at 32-28 when senior Natalie Dimitrova hit a layup with 2:24 left in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Mid-Suburban East champions, Zion then caught the hot hand.
The No. 6-seeded Zee-Bees (23-7) ran off 11 unanswered points to take a 39-32 lead midway through the final period and held on for a dramatic 44-42 triumph over the No 2 Bison (24-6) in the semifinals of the Class 4A Stevenson sectional.
Zion-Benton (23-7) will face Fremd (27-2), the No. 1 seed and top-ranked team in club Class 4A, for the championship at 7 p.m. Thursday.
"They're (Fremd) huge," said Zion coach Tanya Johnson, who had the No. 1 team in the state herself in 1995 and 1996 when she directed Loyola to Class AA state titles. "But we are going to show up and compete."
BG coach Steve Kolodziej had the Bison competing all season, as they enjoyed their best campaign since 2008.
Kolodziej's senior group, led by 1,000-point scorers Maddie Welter and Sammy Stejskal, won three straight regional crowns, and went from a team that won 10 games as freshmen to 24 this year with a MSL East championship
"I could not be more proud of what my team has accomplished," Kolodziej said. "This senior group has turned the program back to what it used to be and they've set the bar high."
High scorers for the Bison were seniors Stejskal (12 points) and Welter (11).
"I'm fortunate," Kolodziej said of Welter and Stejskal. "They're irreplaceable. The best thing about Sammy and Maddie and their 1,000-point careers is the type of kids they are.
"Honestly, I have have two young girls myself and if they grow up to be like Maddie and Sammy I'm going to be a really happy dad.
"They're two outstanding kids and they're two winners. They're going to go on to college and be really successful there, and in life."
A free throw by sophomore Alyssa Floro gave BG a 12-10 lead after one quarter and the Bison got their biggest advantage at 17-12 on a steal and layup by Stejskal.
Zion rallied to lead 21-19 at intermission but BG got right back on top at 22-21 when Welter began the second half with a 3-pointer.
It was BG's final 3-pointer of the season, increasing its school-record total to 223.
"They are such great shooters," Johnson said of the Bison. "And it's not just one. They're all great. We knew we had to help out (defensively at the 3-point line)."
Also helping the BG offense were Amanda Kowalski (8 points), Dimitrova (6) and Georgette Topalis, who followed Welter's 3-pointer with a rebound layup to give BG a 24-21 lead.
But Zion came back to lead 34-32 after three quarters and gained a 39-32 advantage with under five minutes left following a 3-pointer by senior Ledallia Maggett and a free throw by Niquera Short.
Maggett, a 5-foot-6 guard, finished with 9 points.
"The irony of this game is that you had two Division I kids who haven't committed to a college in her (Maggett) and Stejskal," Kolodziej said. "Obviously, I'm biased for Sammy but that point guard of theirs is a D-I player. I don't know why she isn't going somewhere."
BG, which didn't help itself with 2-for-16 shooting from 3-point range and 4-for-11 at the free throw line, kept chipping away at Zion's fourth-quarter lead.
The Bison got to within 44-42 on a sweeping layup by Dimitrova with 7.3 seconds left.
Senior guard Krystal Walker scored 11 points for Zion-Benton.
"I told the kids in the locker room how proud I was of them," Kolodziej said. "I've asked them from the beginning to represent more than themselves - their families, the community and the Buffalo Grove girls basketball program - and they've done that.
"I told them of all their accomplishments and everything they had done. It was emotional but if you look at the kids and what they've done, they are going to be successful. That's why we coach. We want to put the kids on career pathways.
"It's a great group of kids. Six of them will be gone (Welter, Stejskal, Dimitrova, Kowalski, Cassie Berman and Jenna Cardaras graduate) and six will be successful."
Just like the Bison were in this memorable 2015-2016 campaign.