Margaret Buchert of Libertyville is this week’s Daily Herald MVP for girls basketball.

Every time the South Elgin girls basketball team rallied, Bartlett sophomore Mackenzie Hare had an answer.

PODCAST: It’s wall-to-wall playoff talk on this week’s Tailgating with Dave and Kevin (and Orrin).

Burlington Central defeated St. Francis 56-32 Thursday to win the Class 3A Burlington Central regional.

Lake Park defeated Bartlett in the Class 4A Lake Park girls basketball regional final.

The girls basketball teams from Vernon Hills and Stevenson advanced to regional final games after winning their respective semifinals on Wednesday night.

PODCAST: We’re talking conference races and playoff pairings on this week’s Tailgating with Dave and Kevin (and Orrin).

Bartlett girls basketball coach Joe Eirich stepped down for personal reasons Wednesday morning.

Ava Interrante and Katie Beyer combined to score 18 points in the fourth quarter to help McHenry (24-8) rally for a 62-54 victory over host Streamwood during Tuesday’s Class 4A girls basketball regional semifinals.The 3rd-seeded Warriors, who trailed 42-38 after 3 quarters, outscored the 6th-seeded Sabres (11-17) 24-12 in the decisive final period to earn a regional championship date with 2nd-seeded Barrington (21-9) at 7 p.m. Thursday.“I don’t think we turned it over there in the fourth quarter,” said McHenry coach Rob Niemic. “We got a great shot or we got fouled.”The game was tied at 48-48 with 3 minutes left when McHenry went on an 8-0 run over the next 48 seconds, ignited by Interrante’s 3-pointer that put the Warriors ahead to stay at 51-48 with 2:38 remaining.“I knew I was tired but I had to keep shooting,” said Interrante, who scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the final 8 minutes. “I couldn’t let my team down. We really wanted to win this game because we want to win a regional.”Beyer, a 6-foot-1 junior forward, added a 3-point play and a pair of free throws as the Warriors extended their lead to 8 down the stretch.Beyer finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, while junior guard Ashley Wachter added 15 points.McHenry got off to a great start, hitting 4 of its first six 3-point attempts, while taking a 24-8 lead after 1 quarter.Streamwood, however, refused to budge, outscoring the Warriors 19-7 in the second quarter to pull within 31-27 by halftime.Senior Kaylee Angle spearheaded the Sabres’ charge, as she knocked down three 3-pointers in the second quarter.“Some teams just fold and the game’s over — we don’t,” said Streamwood coach George Rosner. “We stayed with our game plan. We kept saying on the bench, ‘we’re not hitting anything,’ and then Kaylee gave us a lift off the bench.“She picked us up and we got back in the game.”That momentum carried into the third quarter, as the Sabres outscored McHenry 15-7 to take a 4-point advantage into the final period, capped by Mandy Mien’s 10-foot fadeaway at the buzzer.When Peyton Hedger (7 points, 8 rebounds) connected on a 3-pointer from the corner, the Sabres still led 45-41 with 6 minutes left.“It was exactly where I wanted to be,” said Rosner. “Then we gave up two 3s that took that lead away.”“That whole third quarter, I felt like we were playing not to lose,” said Niemic. “I think we just got back to what we talked about going into the game — treating every possession like game point.“They put a scare into us and that’s good. That’s only going to make you better.”Mien, 1 of 5 seniors, added 9 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in her final game for the Sabres, while Vivian Sumoski had 9 points and 7 rebounds.“These five seniors were incredible,” Rosner said of Idalyd Ocampo, Vicki Kopko, Angle, Mien and Hedger. “It’s one of the best groups of seniors I’ve had. It’s a tough loss to lose them.”

St. Francis defeated Glenbard South in a Class 3A Burlington Central girls basketball regional semifinal.