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Fremd-Maine West matchup also a cancer research fundraiser

On the penultimate Saturday of the girls basketball regular season, you can't find a more intriguing marquee matchup in the Northwest suburbs.

Saturday night in Des Plaines, two teams that have been state-ranked this winter and have appeared in the Class 4A state finals a combined four times in the past six years will face off.

It will be a pair of conference champions squaring off.

Four-time defending Central Suburban North Maine West tips off at 6:30 p.m. against Fremd, the Mid-Suburban West champs for the tenth time in 11 seasons.

And you don't even have to be in Des Plaines to view the contest.

It will be televised live beginning at 6:20 p.m. on CN100 The Comcast Network (channel 100) and rerun again Sunday at noon and 4 p.m.

It is also available in HD with Xfinity On Demand under Get Local.

The early-evening showdown will feature no less than four future Division I women's basketball players.

McDonald's All-American Angela Dugalic averages more than 20 points for the Warriors. She will play for nationally-ranked Oregon this fall.

Fremd features three committed D-I recruits and one junior who has received D-I offers.

Vikings senior Emily Klaczek, the two-time reigning MSL West Player of the Year, will play at Alabama-Birmingham. Fellow senior Olivia Hill is Bowling Green-bound and junior Ruthie Montella has committed to the College of William & Mary.

Montella's classmate, Grace LaBarge, has received D-I offers.

Coach Kim De Marigny's Warriors are currently 23-3 while Dave Yates' Vikings are 21-6.

de Marigny's club is the defending Class 4A state champ and was third in 2018. Yates' teams took second in 4A in 2015 and 2016.

The Maine West girls basketball team is also holding a fundraiser at Saturday's game to raise money for the Cancer Couch Foundation, a privately funded nonprofit organization.

The foundation has helped raise more than $3 million in funding toward metastatic breast cancer research since 2016. The foundation matches 100 percent of donations and event proceeds. All money is sent to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

There will be several ways that fans of both teams can donate toward the cause at the event.

In addition, there will be no charge for admission for the game. Instead donations will be accepted for the cause. Student-athletes from both schools will wear purple socks to raise cancer awareness and show their unity in fighting the disease.

For more information, contact Jarett Kirshner at (847) 827-5905.

Reid rolling: Only a sophomore, Schaumburg Christian's Summer Reid is leading the Northeastern Athletic Conference in scoring.

She has enjoyed four 30-plus scoring games while averaging 22.1 points per game.

The Conquerors needed someone to step up to the challenge this season after graduating four starters and losing their point guard to an injury a month ago.

Reid has admirably field the role.

"Summer Reid does a good job," said Harvest Christian coach Jeremy Burke. "She is a scorer. She can get after it and put some points up."

Reid played at Harvest Christian in eighth grade when Burke was coaching the boys team at the Elgin school.

Reid's father, LeaRon, is her coach at Schaumburg Christian. Summer is currently the conference leader in 3-pointers as well with 73.

She has shown she can be a clutch player, too, connecting for the buzzer-beating basket from 3-point range for a 43-42 win over Elgin Academy and hitting a 3-pointer to end the first half against Christian Life.

Two-time conference champ: Hersey junior post player Natalia Kubsic has made it back-to-back conference titles in her varsity career.

Last spring, she played shortstop for coach Molly Freeman's MSL East championship softball squad.

After playing on the Hersey junior varsity volleyball team this fall, the three-sport athlete has come back and helped her Huskies win the MSL East crown in basketball.

And she did it by moving from a perimeter position to a post spot, as did her classmate Avery Larson.

"We changed their positions and they've been fantastic," said Hersey coach Mary Fendley. "We needed them more inside and I think that says a lot about what good teammates they are - they are willing to do whatever we need."

When the Huskies took a big 28-2 lead after one quarter in a recent game, Kubsic said it was a good time to work on plays.

"And we wanted to work on the little things that you can't always do in games that are tighter," said Kubsic who isn't sure what sport she'll play in college.

"I'm stuck between basketball and softball," she said. "I started both at about the same time - in-house leagues in Mount Prospect.

She also played soccer at a much younger age and ran track and cross country at River Trails Middle School.

She can't choose a favorite sport but she does know what she wants to study in college and what she likes about this year's basketball team.

"This is a lot of fun," said Kubsic, who is very interested in the medical field and health care. "Our team is really close. We're really one family and that's the best part."

The streaks: Christian Liberty and Hersey own the longest winning streaks by teams in the Northwest suburbs.

Coach Steve Rowland's Chargers have won 24 in a row after starting out 1-3.

The Huskies have reeled off 13 in a row after a loss to Geneva in late December in the Montini Christmas tourney.

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