advertisement

Barrington routs Palatine for 20th victory

Barrington's Teacher Appreciation Night took place at halftime on Wednesday during the Mid-Suburban West girls basketball game against Palatine.

"We get to invite our favorite teachers," said Barrington senior Sophie Swanson. "So it's just nice to remind them that we appreciate them."

Before being honored, the 27 teachers sure got to appreciate their students' impressive first-half performance.

The Fillies (20-8, 8-2) jumped out to a 28-7 lead after 16 minutes and went on to post a 48-25 triumph over the Pirates (14-15, 2-8). The win gave Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro a 12th 20-win season in her 30-year career and she drew to within two wins of 500, a feat accomplished by only three other MSL coaches (Buffalo Grove's Tom Dineen, Fremd's Carol Plodzien and Hersey's Mary Fendley).

Swanson's nifty entry pass resulted in a 6-foot bank shot to ignite an 11-0 run to start the game.

Sarah Bauerfreund's steal at half-court led to a pair of free throws from Gwen Adler to complete the big run that also included a 3-pointer from Swanson and 3-point play by Molly O'Riordan.

"Defensively, I thought we took them out of the things they wanted to do in the first half," Bareiro said.

The Fillies closed out the second quarter on a 15-0 run and extended it into a 24-0 run to put the game away.

O'Riordan finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high 20 points in addition to 10 rebounds and 6 assists.

"I thought Molly looked real good," Bafrreiro said. "She did some good things offensively and defensively. Molly is very capable of that every single game so it was nice to see her come out and do that."

O'Riordan scored all the Fillies' baskets in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer, as Barrington went into the second quarter leading 13-4.

Adler added 10 points and 7 rebounds for the Fillies, who also received scoring from Adaobi Ibe, Maddie Ziebarth and Ashley Mahlum.

It was the final home game of the season for the Class 2022 Class 4A state runners-up.

"It's sad," O'Riordan said. "But I'm glad we were able to get a win for our seniors."

One of those is the Purdue-bound Swanson, whose 7 points lifted her career total to 2,012.

"It's crazy," Swanson said. "Very surreal. I've been playing here since the start of my freshman year. It's definitely going to feel weird not playing here anymore. But I've been very lucky to have such a positive environment to play in."

Swanson was one of six seniors who played their final home game. The others were Jasmine McMillin, Bauerfreund, Lydia Shechtman, Jessica McMillin and Hanna Faulkner.

"This has been a really special group of seniors," Bareiro said. "They just represent everything that is good about high school athletes and being good role models and mentors to their younger teammates."

The Pirates, whose retiring coach Bill LePage coached his final Mid-Suburban League divisional game, were led by Megan Van Brunt (10 points, two 3-pointers), Molly Pieper (6 points) and Elise Martino (5 points, one 3-pointer).

  Palatine's Frankie Henderson, left, and Barrington's Gwen Adler hang on to force a jump ball Wednesday in Barrington. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Palatine's Megan Van Brunt, left, looks for passing room around Barrington's Adaobi Ibe during Wednesday's girls basketball game in Barrington. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Barrington's Sarah Bauernfreund (21), Sophie Swanson and Lydia Schechtman (23) pressure Palatine's Lexi Sabado (11) during Wednesday's girls basketball game in Barrington. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Barrington's Sarah Bauernfreund, left, keeps tabs on Palatine's Frankie Henderson during Wednesday's girls basketball game in Barrington. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Palatine's Halle Onyekonwu, top right, reaches for the rebound with Barrington's Gwen Adler (15) during Wednesday's girls basketball game in Barrington. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.