Rolling Meadows moves on

Without her all-conference backcourt partner Lily Greifenstein on Tuesday night due to an injury, senior Alexa Davis stole the show - literally.

The Mid-Suburban East Player of the Year totaled more than 10 combined steals and deflections as the Mustangs adjusted without one of their top scorers and posted a 41-21 triumph over No. 17 DeKalb in their own Class 4A girls basketball regional semifinal.

Top-seeded Rolling Meadows (21-7) advanced to Thursday's 7 p.m. championship to face No. 7 Lake Park.

"We mentioned at halftime that she (Davis) probably had 8 steals and a ton of deflections," said DeKalb coach Tyler Bantz. "We said we could use some ball fix."

Davis turned three of her steals into layups and finished with a game-high 16 points while junior teammate Susannah Holifield chipped in 8 points and 6 rebounds.

"It's definitely different (without Greifenstein, also a senior) - we miss her," Davis said. "She brings a lot of intensity so we tried to match it without her. I think we did a good job on defense. We were talking a lot to each other. We just have to keep that up."

The Mustangs kept up the defense all the way, limiting the Barbs (12-18) to 7 points or less in each quarter.

"I thought defensively our kids executed what we wanted to do," Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky said. "I thought our defense led to our offense."

Also providing offensive points for the Mustangs were Samantha Elenz, Mallory Brand, Moira Hickey and Alison Sellergren.

Davis got the offense going when she hit a 3-pointer for a 3-2 lead, sparking a 10-0 run. Hickey's 3-pointer made it 10-2 and moments later, Davis swiped a pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup and a 12-4 advantage.

"I really thought it was her (Davis) on the defensive end, getting some easy ones for us." said Kirkorsky, whose starting lineup included Brand, senior Kristin Dillon, Holifield, Davis and Hickey.

"She's (Davis) really done that for us all season. It's kind of what we've come to expect. And she led the way for us all night."

Kirkorsky and the Mustangs are hoping Greifenstein can return Thursday.

"She got a little banged up in the Prospect game (11 days ago) so we just thought we'd give her an extra day of rest," he said. "It's kind of wait and see right now. We're just hoping she is ready to go for Thursday night."

Bantz said he did not do anything specifically to stop Meadows, knowing it was without Greifenstein (three games of 20 or more points).

"We really didn't put too much emphasis on one player over another because we knew they can all shoot, handle the basketball, score and play defense," he said. "That's why we kind of packed it in a little hoping that they were off. They didn't shoot spectacular from the outside so that was nice. Obviously, though, when we go over 30 turnovers and they get a bunch of fastbreak points, that's difficult to come back from."

The 21 points were the fewest Meadows has allowed this season. The 41 Meadows scored was its fourth lowest.

"Going against the No. 1 seed in the sectional, I thought defensively we handled them pretty well." Bantz said. "Giving up 41 points, most of them probably in transition, is pretty darn good. So I thought defensively we were pretty good.

"Offensively, we needed take care of the basketball better and if we had some more shots fall, that would have been huge for us. We had some great looks. They just didn't go in."