Hersey takes care of Libertyville to win Bison Classic title
Growing up with three older sister who are triplets, Mary McGrath probably has known about sharing for a long time.
Well, on Saturday afternoon, she and her Hersey girls basketball team shared the basketball like no team ever has in 22 seasons under hall of fame Huskies coach Mary Fendley.
"I don't ever recall having five players in double figures," Fendley said after the Huskies claimed a 61-48 victory over Libertyville to win the championship of the Bison Classic at Buffalo Grove High School.
"That was just absolutely playing like a team - making the extra pass to open teammates. Anytime five kids are in double digits that is an unselfish team trying to find whoever gives us the best opportunity to score."
One of the best doing exactly that in the Huskies' transition game was freshman Meghan Mrowicki (12 points), who joined all-tourney junior McGrath (14 points), all-tourney junior Mary Kate Fahey (10), senior Jordan Carlquist (10) and all-tourney freshman Katy Eidle (10) in double digits.
"Our player of the game went to Meghan," Fendley said. "She was like a little human fastbreak. She really got us going in transition, either finishing or making the pass. She really gave us a start, initiating our runs in the second and third quarter."
Fendley was referring to a 12-0 burst by Hersey (4-2, 4-1) to overcome a 21-15 deficit in the second quarter and a 9-0 run after nursing a 32-30 lead midway through the third quarter."
Mrowicki flipped a nifty pass to Fahey, who converted a layup that the started the 9-0 run.
"When they got their runs, we allowed them to get fastbreak layups that we couldn't stop," said Libertyville coach Greg Pedersen. "We needed a little bit more energy up front."
The Wildcats (3-2) were led by all-tourney Lydia Crow (15 points), all-tourney Lauren Huber (13) and Margaret Buchert (11).
"We've had two games now where we didn't shoot well and we lost both," Pedersen said. "We've got to figure out ways to win when that happens.
"We're happy to get tested by all these good teams here. Our first conference game is Tuesday so we feel like we'll be going into it with a lot of confidence and experience. This toughens us up for sure and now we're ready to roll."
It was Hersey's first title at BG since 2016.
"This feels so good, especially because we knew Libertyville was a solid team," McGrath said. "They have so many good guards. Our defense was really important. We really did a good job denying them 3s where they get a lot of points."
"I think Libertyville is a really good team so I'm really proud of how our girls stuck with them," Fendley said. "I thought our rebounding was really good and Mary Kate (Fahey) had 6 assists which were very telling of our unselfish play."