Rolling Meadows earns share of MSL East crown
After losing by a buzzer-beater to Buffalo Grove in December, Rolling Meadows made sure there would be no doubt about the outcome of Friday's rematch.
The Mustangs led almost all the way en route to a 47-36 triumph to clinch at least a tie for the Mid-Suburban East girls basketball championship.
Alexa Davis (18 points), Lily Greifenstein (14) and Susannah Holifield (10) all reached double figures for the Mustangs (19-6, 7-2), who own a half-game lead over defending MSL East co-champion Hersey (17-9, 7-3) which completed its conference schedule on Friday.
Meadows still has a game left at Prospect (13-8, 5-4) Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Because Meadows defeated Hersey twice, the Mustangs clinched a berth in Wednesday's MSL title game and will host West champion Fremd.
"This was really big for us," said Davis, who had four 3-pointers. "Now we have to do it again (Saturday at Prospect)."
The Mustangs did it on Friday with some strong rebounds, including 8 from Holifield.
"Everyone rebounded well," Holifield said. "The biggest difference from the first time we played them is that we were locked in on defense. We could all go for steals knowing someone always had our back. We were all just playing as one."
Two free throws by Greifenstein (6-of-6 for the game) gave RM the lead for good at 10-9 with 1:19 left in the first quarter.
Greifenstein started the second quarter with a 3-pointer to make it 13-9 and the Mustangs pulled away to a 25-16 lead at intermission.
BG made it biggest move of the night at the start of the second half.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from juniors Macy Floro and Alyssa Ramos got the Bison (14-12, 4-6) to within 25-22.
However, Meadows countered with a 12-footer in the lane by Greifenstein and a 3-pointer by Davis and was back up by 8 points.
"You've got to give credit to Meadows," said BG coach Steve Kolodziej. "Lexi and Lily combined for 32. We talked about trying to limit them and we let their best players beat us."
BG's best scorer on Friday was Ramos, who netted 15 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half.
"Rolling Meadows is a good basketball team," Kolodziej added. "So are we. I feel like these last few games we've lost our hunger and our willingness to compete. It's a learning lesson. We'll figure it out. We've got a crossover on Tuesday and hopefully then we can give it a run in the regional."
The Mustangs hope they can run their record to 8-2 and an outright title.
"I'm just really proud of the kids," said Mustangs coach Ryan Kirkorsky, who had four players score, including senior Elise Kowalski with a big 3-pointer in the second quarter. "I know they were still thinking about the last game at our place (vs. BG) when they got us.
"Buffalo Grove is just such a tough team to play. They're athletic, strong and they have a lot of kids who can knock down the 3-pointer. I just thought our kids were tough throughout the game."
"We really worked hard on defense and as a team," Davis said. "We just weren't communicating as much the first time we played them. That was our goal - to talk on defense and we did that."
Now it's off to face a Prospect team which also defeated the Mustangs (48-43) on their home floor in the first round of East play.
"It's a big challenge," Holifield said. "Hopefully we can all stay locked in and pull it out."