Freshman Todd's last-second basket lifts Fremd over Palatine
The Fremd freshman has been making big shots all season.
But none were bigger than the one Ella Todd hit with one second left on Friday night in the Palatine gymnasium.
The ninth grader, playing in only her 13th varsity game, took a pass just inside the 3-point line from senior guard Anna Schmitt. Todd dribbled forward about three times and then launched a 14-foot pull-up jumper from the elbow that fell through, lifting Fremd to a dramatic 29-27 triumph over the Pirates, who led nearly every step of the way in the Mid-Suburban League West girls basketball game.
In fact Fremd, which trailed 19-7 with 3:05 left in the third quarter, never led until 1:31 left in the game when Schmitt batted the ball away from a Pirate and grabbed it for the steal and layup to make it 26-24.
"Anna Schmitt (team-high 12 points) kept us in the game," said Fremd coach Dave Yates, whose team improved to 9-4 and 3-0 in the MSL West, where it has won 36 of its last 37 games.
"She was just doing everything."
Both coaches called back-to-bac k time outs with 16.1 seconds leading to the final play.
"I knew I was going to get the ball and I had to score," said Todd, who scored 9 points including a 3-pointer.
"But for the rest of the half, it was my teammates scoring and working hard and that's what got us the win."
"We had some different options but Ella was one of them," Yates said. "She stayed calm. That's a shot she is good at and it was nice to see her knock it down in a big moment."
Senior Madi Stark led Palatine (6-6, 1-2) with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots while freshman Molly Pieper chipped in 6 points and 3 rebounds. Junior Megan VanBrunt had 11 rebounds.
"I told Molly she became a junior tonight," said Palatine coach Bill LePage. "She played great. She really handled the middle really effectively where (Fremd's) girls are very tough and we needed that. Megan VanBrunt had a great game rebounding like crazy and Madi Stark is just a gamer. She works so hard.
"Obviously we are not happy about the loss, but we know the capabilities we have and we are excited for the rest of the season. Dave is a great coach. They've got a great program. We want to emulate them. We just broke down in the fourth quarter and didn't handle the pressure real well."
IUPUI recruit Brianna Wooldridge made her first appearance (knee injury) of the season and made a pair of free throws as part of Fremd's second-half comeback.
After Stark and Todd traded layups in the game's first three minutes, the Pirates closed out the first quarter on a 7-0 run (driving
6-footer by VanBrunt, 3-pointer from Lindsay Plourde and a bank shot by the 6-foot-2 Pieper).
The Pirates kept the pressure on to start the second quarter, getting layups by Stark and Van Brunt for a 13-2 lead. Stark's driving layup made it 15-2 before a 10-footer and a free throw by Schmitt cut the lead to 15-5 at intermission.
"We struggled to knock down shots," Yates added. "I'm proud of the kids hanging in, turning up the pressure and battling and battling to put pressure on them and getting them to turn the ball over. Once we did that, I think we got the game to go our way."