Fremd's youth movement leads to season-opening win
After an incredible three straight trips to the Class 4A state finals with veteran squads, Fremd girls basketball coach Dave Yates presented one of the most youthful Vikings teams in school history on Wednesday night.
But that lack of experience didn't show up at the end and the Vikings pulled out a 55-50 triumph over Lake Zurich in the opening round of the Turkey Thriller in Palatine.
Nursing a 1-point lead in the final two minutes, Fremd hit 4 of 6 free throws and produced key defensive stops to pull out the win.
"With two minutes left, we just said we had to dig down deep, play hard and whoever wins, wins," said Vikings sophomore and lone returning starter Emily Klaczek, who shared team scoring honors with freshman Grace LaBarge (15 points apiece).
Sophomore Caroline Cochran, playing her first varsity game, chipped in 12 points.
"This season is different from last," Klaczek added. "We are playing more into our bench, trying to keep that high-energy game with the quick sub ins. I think it is good. We have a deep team and its going to be fun to work with it."
Yates had 11 different players on the court in the first quarter, including senior guard Colleen Kennedy who hit a key 3 -pointer in the third quarter which gave Fremd a 35-28 lead.
"I think last year we had a real senior-dominated team," Kennedy said. "This season, we are so young, but we've been working hard to get it together and make it through. It was so good to win to tonight and make a statement."
The 6-foot-2 LaBarge hit two 3-point pointers, had a 3-point play and made 3-of-3 free throws in an impressive debut.
"I've never played 11 girls (in a first quarter)," said Yates, now in his 12th season at Fremd. "There were seven sophomores and two freshman on the floor. That's a microcosm of where we're at right now.
"I think we're capable of being a good team but we've just got a lot of work ahead of us. There were first-game jitters, too. We had a lot of kids playing in their first varsity games. To look at it all and realize we pulled out a victory makes me pretty happy for these guys."
Lake Zurich rallied from a 7-2 deficit and took its first lead at 13-12 on 2 free throws by junior Maddy Piggott (7 points).
Senior forward McKenna Zobel led the Bears with a game-high 24 points followed by sophomore Ella Gilbertson (9 points).
"Fremd played a whole lot faster than us and we looked like we didn't react to it - and that's the difference right now," said Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett. "They did a nice job attacking the basket and getting after it on defense.
"They took us out of most of what we wanted to do. They did a great job."
Trailing 41-35 late in the third quarter, the Bears came back to tie the game at 44-44 on a pair of free throws by Zobel with 4:40 left in the game.
"We played a better second half," Bennett added. "We finally executed some of the stuff we've been talking about in practice the last two weeks. We missed some details and that's what cost us the game. If you want to be good, you've got to pay attention to the details.
"I thought Margueret Spear did a nice job. And I thought Brigid Ferguson and Claire Jones gave us some good minutes. The story of the game was that we had some kids play well at times, and we had some mistakes cost us."
Klaczek also had 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals while Kennedy grabbed 5 rebounds. Freshman Ruthie Montella had 4 rebounds.
"We're going to have to have different kids stepping up each night," Yates added. "I thought Lake Zurich battled. To me, it was their veterans vs. our newbies, and I thought their kids did a real good job going after it, getting second shots, and pounding us on the boards. Obviously, they showed us a bunch of things we've got to get better at And Chris (Bennett) does a great job."