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Fremd tops Lake Zurich to win Turkey Thriller

Give Fremd's girls basketball team a bunch of returning varsity players and the Vikings will give you another championship at the Turkey Thriller.

With nearly his entire roster back from a year ago, coach Dave Yates watched his Vikings win the six-team round-robin for the first time since 2015 and fifth since the event began in 2011.

They capped a 5-0 tourney run with a 36-30 triumph over Wednesday's host school, Lake Zurich, which took third place with a 3-2 record.

"It was a great way to start the season, especially since we have all these returning players back," said sophomore Ruthie Montella, a first-team all-tourney selection along with teammates Emily Klaczek (first team), Brianna Wooldridge (second team) and Grace LaBarge (honorable mention).

"It's great to get these wins under out belt."

Both teams were held under their scoring averages.

The Vikings, led by Klaczek's 18 points, never trailed.

"Credit to them (LZ)," said Yates. "I feel they controlled the tempo all game long, We wanted to dictate tempo but we just never could."

Fremd gained its biggest lead in the first quarter when Crystal Kim's bounce pass found Klaczek on the run for a baseline layup that made it 12-4.

The Vikings' biggest lead came at 20-11 with 1:45 left in the first half on a 3-pointer from Ella Burns.

But the Bears closed the second quarter with a 6-0 run, getting 2 free throws from freshman Alayna Soukup, along with a driving layup and a 17-footer from junior Ella Gilbertson.

First-team all-tourney Gilbertson (18 points) and second-team Soukup (10 points) combined for all of Lake Zurich's points in the first half and all but two for the game.

"Those were the two most aggressive kids we had on the floor," said Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett. "When you're aggressive to the basket, good things will happen."

Anna Biergan's 17-footer from the baseline got LZ to within 25-21 midway through the third quarter and a reverse layup by Soukup made it 25-23.

"She is aggressive," Bennett said of Soukup. "And she played great defense. She battled like heck against Ruthie Montella. That was really a fun matchup to watch."

LZ made it fun for its fans in the final quarter, staying close all the way.

"We just kept enough distance where they never got it to one possession," Yates said. "Credit their defense. We didn't take care of the basketball. I think we had 11 turnovers and seven missed layups. We need to play better. But I'm hoping that when we don't play well and still win, that is a good sign. It's a good start to our season. We played five games in seven days. Now we need some practices, too."

Wooldridge, a freshman, hit double figures for the fourth time, collecting 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Klaczek also had 5 steals and 4 rebounds while Olivia Hill pulled down 6 rebounds for the Vikings.

"Emily hit some big free throws," Yates said. "And she made some shots at the end when we needed them. Brianna had a big layup down the stretch."

Bennett, who also had senior Maddy Piggott selected as honorable mention all-tourney, liked how his team found its confidence.

"We started slow," he said. "I think we convinced ourselves somewhere in the second quarter that we could play with them. And I think we defended well. At this time of the season, our offense is a little behind the defense. Our defense is ready to go but our offense is a little bit of a work in progress but we'll get there.

"Our goals coming into this were to be competitive and identify some weaknesses we had to fix. And we did that and had a good tournament."

  Fremd's Grace LaBarge, lefts and Lake Zurich's Maddy Piggott battle for a rebound during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Fremd's Maddie McCarthy shoots over Lake Zurich's Alayna Soukup during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Ella Gilbertson, left, drives past Fremd's Brianna Wooldridge during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Anna Biergan, left, drives on Fremd's Brianna Wooldridge during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Maddy Piggott, left, drives on Olivia Hill during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Ella Gilbertson passes around Fremd's Katie Hansen (50) during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lake Zurich's Alayna Soukup drives on Fremd's Katie Hansen during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Fremd's Grace LaBarge shoots during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Fremd's Ella Burns shoots during their game Wednesday at Lake Zurich High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
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