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Fremd downs Barrington to take lead in MSL West

Moving into sole possession of first place in the Mid-Suburban West on Friday night was hardly anything new for Fremd's girls basketball team.

The Vikings have won conference championships the past four years so they certainly know what it feels like.

And of course, they like it.

Led by seniors Emily Klaczek (21 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals) and Carrie Cochran (12 points 2 rebounds), Fremd got past visiting Barrington 60-47 in a battle for first place.

The state-ranked Vikings improved to 13-4 and 4-0 while Barrington is now at 12-7 and 3-1.

"It feels great," said Klaczek, who made 11 of 15 free throws. "Credit goes to our team. We worked very hard every day for this."

Despite pulling ahead 50-30 thanks to a 7-0 run to begin the second half, Fremd had to work hard to secure the win.

Barrington cut the lead down to 53-46 when Shanna Turczynski hit a 3-pointer with 1:59 left in the game.

"We kept fighting to the end," Turczynski said. "Fremd moves very quickly on the floor and they set a lot of screens. We got some more shots up at the end of the game and were able to put some points on the board."

The Vikes followed Turczynski's 3-pointer by converting 7 of 10 free throws in the final 1:19 to ice the triumph.

"They're (Barrington) a good team," said Fremd coach Dave Yates. "We did not expect anything less than what happened out there.

"I thought we had a great start (15-4 lead), and then they had a great comeback. When Taylor (Thompson) went out (foul trouble) in the second quarter, we did a really nice job finishing out the half. I thought overall we did a really good job defending Taylor and limiting her touches because she has really been torching people."

Taking a nice pass from Klaczek on the fastbreak, Liz Prigge converted a layup just before the halftime buzzer to give the Vikes a 30-17 lead.

"Then I was really proud of how the kids came out in the third quarter and kind of established the game right there," Yates said. "Credit to Babbi (Barreiro, Barrington coach). There was no quit in her kids. They knocked down some shots to hang around."

Other key offensive performers for Fremd were Olivia Hill (8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocked shots), Katie Hansen (6 points, 6 rebounds, and Ruthie Montella (6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals).

"I thought Carrie Cochran did a really good job stepping up and knocking down shots," Yates said. "And it was great to see Ruthie back (from ankle injury).

"This was one of the first games where we kind of had a complete team. So it was nice to see a lot of contributions from different kids."

Freshman Sophie Swanson poured in a game-high 22 points, including a few beautiful step-back 3-pointers for Barrington.

"Sophie Swanson showed why she is going to be a very special player," Barreiro said. "She really battled all game long. It was good to see Anna Mae (King, who had been sidelined with a shin injury) out there again."

All nine of Turczynski's points came in the final quarter with three 3-pointers.

"It was a tough game for us," Barreiro said. "Fremd is seasoned and has a lot of weapons but we fouled too much and then had some lapses within our offensive decision making and that hurt us.

"We had some chances when we were down by 7 points but we just couldn't get the shots to fall. There is a lot of season left in the MSL and we will keep battling."

"We really needed a win at our place," Yates said. "It was really big that we played well and took care of business here and there will be another good matchup down the road."

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