Cary-Grove battles back to top BG

After Buffalo Grove junior guard Heather Nisbet hit six consecutive 3-pointers in the first 12 minutes of the game, Cary-Grove was down, but not one player on the roster ever felt that they were out.

Trailing by double-digits for most of the second quarter, a second-half surge helped the Trojans cut the lead to 3 points at 42-39 early in the third and take a 53-50 deficit into the final 8 minutes of play.

Fighting fire with fire, a late 3 from Christina Bear, followed by a Liz Bart steal and bucket, knotted the game at 57-57. After a BG free throw, Tori Sandstrom connected on an inside shot giving the Trojans a 59-58 lead, their first lead of the contest since early in the first quarter. With the momentum in their favor, the Trojans stayed on top for the remainder, earning a 70-65 nonconference win over the Bison.

"It's tough watching a girl hit six 3s in a row," said C-G coach Rod Saffert. "Still, we were down just six points at the half despite nine 3-pointers. We changed our defensive strategy and never quit."

An uphill battle for most of the game, fourth quarter defensive efforts from Cary-Grove (12-4) held the Bison to just 12 points, while the Trojans scored 20.

"Credit to Cary-Grove," said BG coach Pat Dudle. "Their pressure defense in the fourth was excellent, and they were finishing layups on the other end."

Consistent inside scoring from Claire Jakubicek (21 points, 8 rebounds) and Lizzy Dyrek (6 points, 7 rebounds) kept the Trojans alive, while late pushes from Sandstrom (9 points), Bart and Christina Bear put them ahead. The trio combined for 16 fourth quarter points.

"Christina had strep throat and had three days off," said Saffert. "For her to come off the bench and do what she did, we had to have it. As for Claire, she was named player of the week for a reason."

Both Bart and Bear finished with 13 points each. Bart connected from behind the arc three times.

"Once we got the momentum, we never looked back," said Bart. "We got our flow going and we got excited."

Buffalo Grove (6-13) unquestionably had momentum early. Nisbet finished the game with a career-high 22 points, as well as a career high six 3-pointers.

"It was a tough loss," said Nisbet. "It was the best shooting I've ever done, but everybody was hot for us. Andrea (DiPrima) and Kelly (Mahoney) both did a great job. Breaking that 20-point barrier has always been a goal of mine."

When Nisbet got into foul trouble, her teammates were there to pick it up.

DiPrima (9 points), Kaitlin Hillner (12 points), Stacey Lialios (9 points) and Mahoney (8 points) each contributed.

"Talk about two teams clicking on all cylinders offensively," said Dudle. "Our effort was there, we just lost momentum."

Cary-Grove simply never gave in.

"We never got discouraged," said Bear. "We just had to work that much harder to get the win, and we did it as a team."

Marengo 41, Huntley 39: Taylor Henning-Fletter led Huntley (7-8) with 13 points and 5 rebounds in this nonconference loss.

Timothy Christian 72, Westminster 12: Without six key players who were on a missions trip, Westminster Christian (2-8, 0-3) fell in the Private School League. Beth Kautz led the Warriors with 5 points.