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Fremd dumps Meadows to move to 4-0

Trailing Fremd by 9 points, Rolling Meadows kept things close with a 7-2 run to finish the first half.

Then, things got really interesting when freshman Moira Hickey got Rolling Meadows to within 26-24 by hitting a pair of free throws to start the third quarter.

However, Fremd junior Emily Klaczek, who has been in many of these big Fremd-RM matchups the last two years, made sure the Vikings didn't relinquish the lead in the final 16 minutes.

Klaczek scored 9 of the next 11 points for the Vikings and gave them a 37-26 lead on her 3-pointer from the corner with 3:36 left in the third period.

The Vikings never looked back in a 59-48 Turkey Thriller girls basketball triumph at Lake Zurich High School.

Klaczek finished with a season-high 18 points as Fremd raised its record to 4-0 while handing Meadows it first loss in five games.

"It's always a good game when we play Rolling Meadows," Klaczek said. "We came out of the locker room at half and we said we had to keep up the tempo. We were excited to play Meadows They're a great a team and it's always a fun game to play."

"Emily did a great job," said Fremd coach Dave Yates, who like RM coach Ryan Kirkorsky has led his team to two Class 4A state runner-up trophies.

"I think she played a ton of minutes. Rolling Meadows is a very difficult matchup because they're so quick. They've got so many kids who can shoot and I thought Emily did a really good job handling their pressure."

The Mustangs were held under 50 points for only the second time in five games.

"I think our defense was awesome," Klaczek said. "They're great shooters (five 3-pointers) and everyone came out with great energy for us. Our posts made some great plays down low."

One of those posts is freshman Brianna Wooldridge (9 points), whose left-handed bank shot and 2 free throws provided Fremd a 41-28 advantage with 2:06 left in the third period. The Vikes gained their biggest lead at 45-30 on a rebound layup by Wooldridge.

Alexa Davis' 3-pointer gave Meadows it last lead at 13-12 with 2:10 left in the first quarter.

Fremd answered with a driving layup by Ruthie Montella (11 points), 2 free throws by Klaczek and a 3-pointer by Angie Zara (7 points) to lead 18-12 after one quarter.

"We had a little spell there in the first half where we just didn't take care of the ball," said Yates. "They're a really good team and they take advantage of that stuff. In the second half, we executed way better in what we wanted to do. We got some inside touches."

Grace LaBarge and Olivia Hill each added 6 points for Fremd.

"I thought defensively, we played really well," Yates added. "I feel a lot of their easy shots came when we turned the ball over. When we got to them to a half-court game, I thought we played pretty good defense."

Junior Susannah Holifield played a strong game around the basket and finished with 9 points for Meadows. She had a key deflection in the first quarter which led to a fastbreak 8-foot swish by Davis (team-high 10 points)

"I thought Susannah was awesome," Kirkosky said. "We've told her that she has to be a core player for us and have asked her to assert herself. And I thought she did that on both ends of the floor. In a lot of ways, she really kept us in the game."

Lily Greifenstein, Davis, Kelsie Campbell, Alison Sellergren and Hickey each had 3-pointers for Meadows, which also got points from Elise Kowalski and Samantha Elenz.

"I'm proud of our kids," Kirkorsky said. "We definitely have a lot of things to clean up. That's a great Fremd team and I thought we made some plays to get back in the game. Give credit to them (Fremd). Their girls responded."

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