Eidle hot again as Hersey rolls by Buffalo Grove
Hersey's girls basketball team has reached new heights.
On a day when the Huskies climbed into the Top Ten of the Class 4A state poll, they also rose into a first-place tie in the Mid-Suburban East.
Huskies freshman Katy Eidle, who has offers from three Division I programs, offered up one of her best games of the season with a game-high 26 points to help lift the Huskies to a 62-40 win over visiting Buffalo Grove on Tuesday night.
The Huskies raised their record to 21-6 and 7-1 in the East while the Bison stand at 15-9 and 7-1.
The Huskies lost to Buffalo Grove on a buzzer-beater on Dec. 20.
"After that loss to them, we knew we had to come back because we really want to win our division," said Eidle. "We just gave it our all."
Eidle really gave it her all in the eyes of coach Mary Fendley.
"I know Katy scored a lot of points but it was her defense that got us going." Fendley said. "She had a lot of steals and deflections which were equally important in getting us going in the first half."
Eidle has scored 102 points in her last four games.
"She has been at the next level in those games," said Fendley, whose team has won 10 straight. "But this might have been her best game of those four defensively."
Juniors Mary McGrath (12 points) and Mary Kate Fahey (10) also reached double figures while Jordan Carlquist added 7.
Hersey juniors Natalia Kubsik (8 rebounds) and Avery Larson (7) played key roles on the boards.
"Natalia and Avery were excellent in the paint," Fendley said. "They were so tough getting rebounds. They (BG) probably had a height advantage but that's just those two working really hard to get good position. We didn't let them get a lot of second shots and a lot of that was Natalia and Avery."
A 3-pointer by senior Macy Flory (11 points) got BG to within 7-6 with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
But Hersey exploded on a 13-0 run to take control for good. McGrath assisted Eidle for a fadeaway 14-footer to start the rally which included 4 points from Eidle, a putback by Larson, layup by freshman Meghan Mrowicki off an assist from Fahey and 2 free throws by McGrath.
"Defensively, we got of to a sluggish start," said BG coach Steve Kolodziej. "We let (Eidle) get going which we didn't do last time when we held her to 13 points. At one point in the first half, it was if she was almost single-handedly beating us."
Senior Kendra Lee's 12 points led the Bison, who never got within single digits in the final three quarters.
"I thought Mary (McGrath) did an amazing job on Kendra Lee," Fendley said. "She is such a nice player who can score inside and out, so the fact that Mary held her 12 points is a really, really good job."
BG didn't help itself at the free-throw line, converting on 10 of 22.
"We didn't shott well from the line," Kolodziej said. "But you've got to give credit those Hersey kids. That's a really good basketball team. They have some really incredibly talented players on that team. We had an idea of what we wanted to do but we just weren't able to do it."
Each team has two conference games remaining. The tiebreaker to settle who plays in the title game is division wins by 7 or more points. Hersey currently has the edge 7-5.
"We've been sitting on that loss to Buffalo Grove since Dec. 20," Fendley said. "Buffalo Grove is the only team in our conference and only team in our sectional that has beaten us.
"So that kind of had a big impact on us. We feel like we've been chasing since Dec. 20. We've only earned a tie with them and that's all you can do in one night. So we are thrilled to have this game. I'm just really proud of them and they've stayed the course."