Fremd responds to Hersey's early challenge
Early in the second quarter, Hersey sophomore Janine Boyan came off the bench and calmly hit a 6-footer that pulled the Huskies into an 18-18 tie with host Fremd.
But Fremd, which got many key points from its bench, countered with a 16-2 run to close out the first half and never looked back in a 61-45 Mid-Suburban League girls basketball crossover which featured the West and East champs from a year ago.
Sophomore Emily Klaczek, who scored a game-high 20 points, hit her first of two 3-pointers to give Fremd a 12-6 lead in the first quarter.
"I thought we had a good start and then we kind of let them back in the game," said Fremd coach Dave Yates, whose team is 4-2. "Alyssa Honickel gave us a good lift off the bench, and (Sophia) Youman, too.
"A bunch of our kids played well, and we've been pretty balanced. It's nice seeing all these girls get their feet wet. It's the first time on varsity for many of them.
"I feel like the last couple of games we've settled down a little bit and kind of played the way we want to - and consistently."
Honickel, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, knows she has to be ready to play at any time as Yates has gone double-digit deep with this young club.
"I try to be confident in practice and be consistent, and that follows through in games," said Honickel, who contributed 5 points in the third quarter when Fremd pulled out to a 53-27 lead. "It's a mental game. You've got to be prepared that way."
Hersey coach Mary Fendley had her team prepared despite not having leading scorer Claire Rogowski, a senior guard who hopes to return soon from a shoulder injury.
"I wouldn't have imagined after losing by 16 points to think that we played well," she said. "But actually I think it was as well as we played offensively all season, if you take away the missed shots.
"Even when they went on that run at the end of the second quarter, we actually had shots and we didn't have turnovers."
Hersey (3-3) had balanced scoring with seniors Maesyn Benjamin and Erin McGrath both scoring 10 points. Senior Katie McGrath had 9 points, followed by Emily Collins (8) and Boyan (6).
The McGraths combined for all of Hersey's 14 points in the first quarter.
"Our offense is supposed to get us good shots, and that happened tonight," Fendley added "We did a great job of handling their full-court press. We got good shots. We just didn't hit them."
Eleven Vikings hit baskets or free throws, including freshmen Grace LaBarge (9 points) and Ruthie Montella (6 points).
Angie Zara, Ella Burns (3-pointer), Danielle Lovelace, Caroline Cochran (3 pointer), Olivia Hill (3 pointer), Crystal Kim and Maddie McCarthy all scored points for Fremd, which had 14 players see the floor.
"One thing that we've improved on in the last couple of games is rebounding," Yates said. "We are doing a better job of limiting teams to one shot."
Fendley was not complaining about her team's shots.
"It didn't help that we didn't have our leading scorer, but I thought we had good shots from the kids who took them," she said. "I thought we made good decisions but we weren't hitting them. Of course, Fremd gets some credit for that.
"But heading into conference (begins Friday night) I'm happy with how we played and happy we got shots that would typically fall at a higher percentage."