Resiliently, Fremd corrals Conant
On Tuesday, Fremd's girls basketball team dropped out of a three-way tie for first in the Mid-Suburban West.
On Friday, the Vikings dropped Conant out of a tie for first place.
Led by sophomore Emily Klaczek's game-high 21 points, Fremd led nearly wire-to-wire in a 52-38 win at Conant to snap a three-game losing streak in the MSL West.
The Vikings (15-11) were coming off an emotional 43-42 loss to Palatine (6-2), which is now the leader in the West by 1 game over Fremd (5-3) and Conant (5-3) with two games to play next week.
"We knew we couldn't look back," said Klaczek, who converted six clutch free throws in the game's final four minutes to help the Vikings seal the decision. "We came into this game confident. It was very important to get a conference win. We are doing our part, just taking it one game at a time."
The Vikes took over the game in second quarter when they made three 3-pointers for a 21-12 lead.
Klaczek hit the first one, followed by Angie Zara whose long range shot make it 18-10 with 4:29 left in the half.
Freshman Grace LaBarge hit from beyond the arc less than minute later for a 21-10 lead.
The Vikes took their biggest lead of the half at 24-10, thanks to Klaczek's 15-footer and a free throw by LaBarge (8 points).
"I thought we got off to a great start," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "And any time they made a run on us we answered it. And we beat them on their floor which I think was big for our kids."
Conant made its first run with a 3-pointer from Taylor Cyr, a driving 6-footer by Hannah Shulman and 2 more free throws by Shulman to get to within 24-15.
A layup by Olivia Hill got Fremd's lead back up to 28-15 and the Vikes led 28-17 at half.
Conant (8-15) got to within 44-38 with 5:37 left in the game when Shulman drove to the basket for a 6-footer.
But Fremd's defense pitched a shutout the of the way.
Shulman finished with a season-high 18 points for Conant.
"Hannah drove to the basket," said Conant coach Deirdre Naughton about the junior guard who also hit a pair of key 3-pointers in the second half.
Lauren Murphy also connected on a 3-poitner for the Cougars, who were held under double digits in the first and fourth quarters.
"We gave up 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and they scored some 3-pointers off them," Naughton added. "That was unacceptable. We dug ourselves into a hole and just couldn't get out it."
"When we are not scoring our defense has to step up. And part of our defense is our rebounding which was not there tonight."
The Cougars finish Wets play with Hoffman Estates and Barrington next week.
"We'll see what happens," Naughton said. "We put ourselves in a position at this point of the season to be in the conference championship game but this definitely hurt. Fremd is a good team and they were coming off three losses. They were definitely ready to play."
Especially Klaczek, who was in double-digit scoring figures in each half.
"Emily came out ready to play and that is the Emily Klaczek I know," Yates said. "She was sticking shots and knocking down free throws. That was a real efficient scoring game from her.
"Grace LaBarge gave us nice minutes and Olivia (Hill, who had 6 points) did a nice job guarding their post players because they have done a number on a lot of inside kids. I thought our kids battled the whole game."
Zara finished with 5 points while Colleen Kennedy, Crystal Kim (3-pointer), Caroline Cochran, Danielle Lovelace and Ruthie Montella (who was battling some illness) each made it into the scoring column.
"It was really nice to see our kids bounce back," Yates said. "We hit a rough skid (losses to Hoffman Estates, Barrington and Palatine) and obviously the last one was a tough loss. So it shows me a lot of about these guys that they are resilient and they know that every game you've got to come back and be ready to play, and they were tonight."