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Buffalo Grove handles Glenbrook North

One day after tying for first in the Mid-Suburban East, Buffalo Grove's girls basketball team was tied 9-9 midway through in its nonconference game.

But the Bison went on a 7-0 run and led 26-17 at intermission before putting together an even stronger second half en route to a 62-38 triumph over visiting Glenbrook North on Saturday.

BG's second win in less than 24 hours followed a big second-half comeback to defeat defending East champion Hersey 43-40 on Friday night.

"That win gave us trust in all the work we put in and showed us how good we can be," said Bison senior forward Sydney Fortman, who scored 11 points with 5 rebounds on Saturday. "And it shows us how better we've gotten over the years."

BG coach Steve Kolodziej liked how his team got better in the second half.

Among the highlights was Macy Floro's 3-pointer coming off a picture-perfect screen by Zori Angelova.

Also, Alyssa Ramos' beautiful wrap-around pass while being guarded by two defenders to set up a 3-pointer from Kendra Lee and Jackie Lavigne's big box-out rebound and her two hustle plays that forced jump balls.

"In the second half, I think we just settled in and handled what they were doing to us a little better," Kolodziej said. "I'm happy with holding them to 38 points. That's our goal. We always try to hold teams under 10 points each quarter."

Floro finished with a game-high 18 points. Ramos and Lee each had 8 followed by Angelova (6) and playmaker Jackie Bickhaus (5).

"I think we definitely took the energy and effort from Friday night and carried it into this game," said Fortman, whose inside bucket put the Bison ahead by 9 points at intermission.

BG (12-7) pulled away from the Spartans (6-13) with a 16-7 run to start the second half.

Lee found Floro for the 3-pointer off the Angelova screen and then Floro made a steal and layup to complete the rally that made it 42-24 with 2:01 left in the third quarter.

"I think Macy's 18 points is a credit to our team defense and our ability to cause turnovers and get transition points," Kolodziej said.

Junior Olivia Kosla led GBN with 10 points while classmates Christina Christos and Brooke Blumenfeld added 9 apiece.

"Olivia is a great player for us," said Spartans coach Danielle Fluegge, whose team lost 62-17 to the state's No. 1 Class 4A team, Maine West, 18 hours earlier.

"Buffalo Grove has great shooters and great ball movement," she added. "They're obviously very well-coached and are a well-run machine. I thought we could have competed quite a bit better. We missed a lot of shots and gave up a lot of rebounds but that's the way it fell today."

BG hopes things continue to fall its way when Prospect visits on Tuesday.

The Bison, Knights, Rolling Meadows and Hersey are tied for first in the MSL East with 3-2 records.

"We definitely didn't want to have a letdown (on Saturday) and I think that showed in the confidence we showed in our ability," Fortman said. "I think it will be a good game on Tuesday."

"This prepares us and hopefully gets us ready for Tuesday when we're going to have a big test against Prospect," Kolodziej said. "We're excited for the opportunity and where we're at in the conference. We worked really hard to get here and were going to embrace the challenge."

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