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Greifenstein's career night lifts Meadows over Hersey

It took only four words for Lily Greifenstein to sum up Rolling Meadows' big Mid-Suburban East win over defending champion Hersey on Friday.

"We were all locked in," said the 5-foot-7 senior guard.

And nobody more so than Greifenstein, who poured home a career-high 30 points, including 16-of-17 free throws.

The Mustangs finished strong for a 73-64 win over a Hersey team that fought back from a 10-point deficit in the first half to lead 37-33 at half.

"Huge win for us," Greifenstein added. "We were really aggressive on offense and defense. That was the key and we are super excited. This was a good confidence builder."

Greifenstein's backcourt partner Alexa Davis was a confident shooter in the second half when she scored 13 of her 16 points.

The Mustangs (16-5, 4-2) remained a half-game behind Prospect (5-2) in the East while Hersey (12-9, 3-3) is half game in front of Buffalo Grove (3-4) for third place.

"We're going to work even harder now," Greifenstein said. "We're going to work harder at practice and stay locked in. It will be fun."

Mustang fans were having fun watching their team take an 18-8 lead on 2 free throws by Greifenstein with 1:22 left in the first quarter.

But the Huskies charged back and took the lead at 26-25 on a 3-pointer by Mary McGrath (10 points).

Senior Brianna Luciano, who netted a career-high 15 points, took a nice pass from Janine Boyan and scored a layup for a 33-28 lead with 2:04 left in the half.

"Thank goodness for Brianna," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley of the Winona State softball recruit. "She was terrific on both ends of the floor. She's the one that made this a great game.

"You're not going to win too many games when you give up 73 points but we ended up with 64."

Emily Collins led Hersey with 16 points while Mary Kate Fahey added 11.

"Honestly, it looked so bad at the beginning," Fendley added. "They came out so hot and our defense was bad. It was disappointing because we came back but then we were unable to finish.

"I credit Rolling Meadows' ball handing and their defense. They didn't trap us but they sure did get their hands on a lot of passes and that really took us out of our offense, so good for them."

Meadows was very good at the free throw line, hitting for 83 percent.

Davis made 9-of-10, including 8-of-8 in the second half.

Junior Susannah Holifield, who scored Meadows' first 5 points of the game, finished with 12.

"We needed our two seniors (Greifenstein and Davis) to step up," said Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "Lily was just phenomenal start to finish and Lex had an awesome second half. And Susannah was great on both ends of the floor."

Collin's 16-footer got Hersey to within 61-59 with 4:02 left but Davis found freshman Moira Hickey (8 points) for a 3-point play to make it 64-59 and Hersey never got closer than 3 points.

"I was extremely proud of our kids," said Kirkorsky, who also got offensive points from Elise Kowalski and Mallory Brand. "We've had a few games where we haven't necessarily been able to close out and that's what we talked about all week."

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