Class 2A No. 1 Winnebago knocks off Fremd in OT
Fremd girls basketball coach Dave Yates does not shy away from playing tough nonconference games on Saturday afternoons.
Case in point - the Vikings hosted Winnebago, the top-ranked team in Class 2A, on this particular Saturday.
Fremd, which started four underclassmen, fell 67-60 in overtime to the unbeaten Indians.
"You're not going to learn much about your team by beating someone by 30 points," said Yates. "Games like this are only going to make us better."
A slow start in the first quarter and a tough overtime did in the Vikings.
"We started and ended the game the same," Yates.
Winnebago (10-0) played a strong first quarter, hitting 8 of 12 shots, committing just 1 turnover and led 21-9 at quarter's end. Fremd (8-4) shot 4 of 15 and turned the ball over three times.
"We played really well in that first quarter," said Winnebago head coach Judy Krause.
Junior forward Maddy Fay and reserve Isabelle Zavilla each scored 6 points in the second quarter that helped close the gap to 32-28 at the halftime break.
Fay would go on to finish with a career-high in points (18) and rebounds (18).
Still trailing 45-41 to start the fourth quarter, the Vikings went on an 11-2 run to open a 52-47 lead following Anna Schmitt's layup with 4 minutes left in regulation.
With 32 seconds to go, another layup by Schmitt gave Fremd a 54-52 lead. Winnebago's star player, Myiah Brown, hit a baseline jumper to tie the game at 54 and force the overtime.
The Indians went on an 8-0 run to start the extra period. Ella Povi hit a 3-pointer that was followed by 5 points by Brown, who finished with 24 points.
Nikki Gonella's free throw pulled Fremd to within 64-60 with 14 second left but Winnebago would hit 3 free throws to finish the game.
"Coming out and playing a bigger school," said Brown, "we didn't want to come out on the floor in fear. We kept our composure and brought that extra energy to the overtime."
Fay was disappointed in the loss but saw it as a stepping stone.
"I think we had some really good runs in the game," said Fay. "We have to learn to keep up our mentality up the whole game. It's something that we have struggled with on these Saturday games. Games like this will help us to grow and prepare us for games down the road."
"Winnebago is a good team," said Yates. "That's what we want to have on these Saturday games. This team just needs to figure out how to beat good teams. Winnebago came out swinging. We snapped out of it. There were moments where we showed a lot of good things. Maddy had a great game. She really stepped up for us. She's capable of having games like this constantly. It was great to see her have a great game."