St. Viator's Joy Bergstrom takes her (top) spot in school scoring history

St. Viator senior Joy Bergstrom, a four-year starter, became the Lions' all-time leading scorer last week.

With her 18 points in a 60-45 loss to Carmel, Bergstrom reached 1,696 for her four seasons, including her junior campaign which was cut in half due to COVID-19.

The South Dakota recruit broke the mark of 2018 graduate Myia Clark, who scored 1,695 in a four-year varsity career before heading to St. Louis University.

Third on the Lions' all-time list is Denise Walker, a current girls basketball assistant coach who graduated in 1996 with 1,523 points.

Dandy Duckmann:

Elk Grove senior Lili Duckmann scored her 1,000th point on Wednesday when she tossed home 21 points in the Grenadiers' 54-38 win over Wheeling.

A week earlier, Duckmann's 34 points in an 81-58 loss to state-ranked Hersey equaled the Grenadiers' previous highest single-game effort in program history.

Duckmann's big game tied the mark of former Grens Becky Witonski (1996 vs. West Aurora), Alison Schultz (1991 vs. Addison Trail) and Kathleen Morris (1983 vs. Glenbrook South).

It was Duckmann's second 30-plus point game this season. She had 7 of her team's 12 3-pointers in the game which featured 24 3-pointers. Julia Masnica had 3 3-pointers and Lauren Millhiser added 2 for the Grens.

49th MSL title game:

Wednesday's 49th edition of the Mid-Suburban League girls basketball game will feature a new matchup.

Host Barrington (23-5, 9-1), the West co-champion, has never played East co-champ Prospect (21-6, 9-1) for a league crown.

In fact, in five previous MSL title-game appearances, Prospect has faced Fremd each time, the last in 2015.

Barrington is making its seventh appearance, the last in 2007. The Fillies have faced Buffalo Grove three times, and once against Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove and Schaumburg.

Nice tributes:

Rolling Meadows and Palatine each welcomed back former stars of the program who netted 1,000 points in their careers.

At Rolling Meadows last Friday, Jackie Kemph, Alex Glasgow and Jenny Vliet were honored prior to the Mustangs' 57-36 win over Wheeling.

The trio helped lead the Mustangs to second-place finish in the Class 4A state tourney in 2013 and 2014.

"It was awesome," said Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky, who coached the trio to their state success. "Obviously, those kids have meant so much to our program and it even kind of transcends our program. If you look at some of our seniors, they were in third or fourth grade back then and they were motivated and inspired to play by the girls we honored."

Kemph finished her career with more than 2,000 points and nearly 800 assists, both school records. Vliet finished with more than 1,000 points and a school-record 988 rebounds while Glasgow scored more than 1,500 points and holds the Mustangs' record for most single-season 3-pointers (93).

"We had the three girls in our locker room for a pregame talk," said Kirkorsky, who received assistance from RM athletic director Jim Voyles and athletic assistant Caitlin Carpenter to make the day a success.

"So it was nice to honor them that night and then I thought our kids played real nicely with them watching that night."

Kirkorsky said some of his current players went to the state finals at Illinois State's Redbird Arena for the state finals in 2013 and 2014.

"(At the tribute last week), I was honestly doing a little bit of fan-girling," said Mustangs senior guard Alison Sellergren. "I was super excited to see them. It was kind of surreal because I totally idolized them when I was little. It was so cool to see what they've accomplished since they've been out of high school and college."

"We used to go to all the games as feeder kids and always cheered them on," added senior guard Moira Hickey. "It was awesome to see them. They're so deserving of their accomplishments. They worked hard for them and they're all very successful now so it all paid off."

Kemph and Vliet went on to be teammates at St. Louis University while Glasgow played at Northwestern.

Today, Kemph is a senior tax associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers and lives in Chicago.

After St. Louis, Vliet attended law school in Los Angeles and is now working as a corporate Mergers/Acquisitions & Private Equity attorney at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in downtown Chicago.

Glasgow works as an associate for a Private Equity fund that invests in distressed real estate across the United States.

At Palatine last Saturday before the game against Glenbrook North, Karen Hagberg, Nicole Pauly Capalbo, Kristy Freeman, Nia Pappas and Madi Stark received accolades for their 1,000-point careers as Pirates.

Current Pirates coach Bill LePage had the opportunity to coach Pappas and Stark. He also watched Hagberg, Capalbo and Freeman as a teacher at Palatine.

"They are a special group and each girl always did the things you want others to follow on the court and off," LePage said. "I was honored to be a part of the special day. And then to play well and beat a good Glenbrook North team in front of these five players is something our team will always remember.

"Mark Johnson (longtime Pirates coach) did a great job planning and organizing this day for these ladies and their families."

Hagberg and Capalbo (Pirates softball coach) actually gave a postgame talk.

"They elaborated on the importance of your teammates," LePage said. "And they said to savor every opportunity you get to play this great game. Don't take anything for granted."

College offers:

Fremd junior Maddy Fay is on the radar of college coaches, recently receiving offers from Northern Illinois and Evansville.

"She has been playing really well and she deserves that stuff (offers)," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "She has been scoring and rebounding, and she works hard at what she does, so it's great to see her reward for that."

Yates is not surprised by the college attention for his 6-foot-1 forward.

"She had that potential," he said. "But she has put a lot of work into her shooting and her moves on the court. Her go-to is finishing around the basket and rebounding, But now, she is putting the ball on the floor, going to the basket and finishing. She is expanding her game and that's what we challenged her to do - be able to score away from the basket."

Wooldridge committed:

Fremd senior Brianna Wooldridge is an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis recruit and Vikings coach Dave Yates believes it's a great match for his 6-1 center.

"It's a great fit for Brianna," Yates said. "They (IUPUI) lost to Michigan in overtime and won at Iowa. They are one of the top ten mid majors in the country. That's a great situation for Bri. They (IUPUI) have an All-American center who is graduating so she is going to get an opportunity to come in and contribute."

Klaczek connects:

Emily Klaczek, a three-time Mid-Suburban League West Player of the Year from 2018 to 2020, popped in a career-high 26 points in Alabama-Birmingham's 86-70 victory over Western Kentucky last week. The former Fremd standout was 9-of-15 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

"I'm so happy for her," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "She went there and loved her teammates and her coach. She didn't play a lot her freshman year, but guess what? That happens to freshmen a lot of times.

"A lot of kids today, when they don't play, they just transfer and I asked Emily in the summer, do you like your teammates, do you like your coaching staff. She's like 'yeah' I said then stay, and keep working on your game.

"So it's awesome to see her getting opportunities, taking advantage of them, and then showing what you can do."

Klaczek has started 12 of the first 18 games for the Blazers (12-6) and is averaging 10. 2 points and 2.3 rebounds along with 36 assists and 13 steals.

"We saw her for a bunch of years and knew that was in that kid," Yates said. "But for her now to do it at another level is awesome to watch."