Rolling Meadows' Rolla looking like old self

Happy to have her back on the basketball court - complete with two volleyball knee pads, heavy-duty knee brace and ankle brace - Rolling Meadows is especially grateful to have Bridget Rolla doing Bridget Rolla things again.

Like taking a control of a game with her play and leadership.

Playing her seventh game since missing three straight with a sprained ankle, Rolla scored a trio of clutch baskets in the fourth quarter to lead Rolling Meadows to a 58-47 win over Vernon Hills in first-round play of the Libertyville winter tournament on Friday night.

The senior guard finished with a team-high 15 points to pace four Mustangs in double figures and added 6 rebounds and 3 steals.

"This is probably the best she's looked," said a grinning Rolling Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky, who knows what a healthy Rolla will mean for his Mustangs (7-4), who play Niles West at 11 a.m. Saturday at Libertyville.

Rolla, an all-area player for the Mid-Suburban League East co-champs as a sophomore, missed all of last season with her second ACL surgery on her right knee in three years. In the Mustangs' 2019-20 season opener, she rolled her ankle, the same ankle she sprained over the summer.

"Every game I feel a little more like my old self," Rolla said. "Today I definitely felt the best.

"The game was such a good game," she added. "My adrenaline was pumping. I couldn't even feel (the ankle). Obviously I'm still a step slower than (before the injury), but I think defensively each game I'm getting better. I can move a little better laterally."

A 3-pointer by Daniella Jarrell (16 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) pulled Vernon Hills (6-6) within 44-43 with 4:51 left in the fourth quarter, but Rolla wasn't about to let her Mustangs roll over. She out-hustled everyone for putback and then used a spin move to score in transition to make it a five-point game with 3:05 left.

"I think it just takes time after you have a bad sprain to get some of that explosiveness back," Kirkorsky said. "She's a kid who's played varsity for so long that she has that command of everything we're supposed to be doing."

Equally important for Kirkorsky was that Rolla played the role of "coach on the floor" in the fourth. She adjusted the Mustangs' zone offense, and it led to her scoring on a baseline drive and 50-45 lead with 2:32 to go.

"We were struggling against (Vernon Hills') zone," Kirkorsky said. "She wanted to run something different."

More smiles from her coach.

Even Vernon Hills coach Paul Brettner smiled, telling Rolla after the game, "You're fun to watch."

"She's just a competitor," said Kirkorsky, whose Mustangs also got 13 points and 8 rebounds from Susannah Holifield, 12 points off the bench from Emily Galvan, 10 points from Sam Elenz and 8 points from Madi Niedbala.

Vernon Hills scored 5 points in the final 5 seconds of the first half to cut a 16-point deficit to 34-23. Grace Guillaume (7 points) hit a 3-pointer, and freshman Alexa Ciselinski made a steal and basket at the buzzer.

"Alexa just made a great read and play and finish," Brettner said.

Vernon Hills' 6-foot-3 freshman Grace Koepke provided a huge lift off the bench, scoring 10 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.

"She's got a lot that we can use," Brettner said. "She's been getting better and better at varsity speed and physicality, and today I thought that was probably the best game she's played."