Girls basketball: Fremd pulls away from Prospect to win Barrington sectional

Two weeks after falling behind Prospect 10-0 in the Mid-Suburban League girls basketball championship in Mt. Prospect, Fremd’s top-seeded girls basketball team never trailed the No. 2 Knights by more than 2 points on Thursday night.

And when senior Ellie Thompson hit a 3-pointer with 4:15 left in the first half, it gave the MSL champion Vikings a 19-17 lead they would never relinquish.

Trailing by as many as 13 points late in the third quarter, a rebound layup by senior Alli Linke (21 points) got Prospect to within 49-44 with 43 seconds left in the game.

But the Vikings made 6-of-7 free throws the rest of the way (two apiece by sisters Ella and Gracie Todd and one by Coco Urlacher) in the final 36 seconds left to put away a 54-44 victory for the Class 4A Barrington sectional championship.

“I was so happy for Gracie,” said Ella Todd (game-high 23 points) about her sister making the final two free throws with 7.4 seconds left. “I was so proud of her.”

“Honestly, we have been a really good free-throw shooting team over the season,” said Fremd coach James Han. “I think we shoot over 75 percent. So I knew down the stretch that if we got a chance to knock down free throws, I would have confidence in all our kids to do that. That was obviously big.”

And it was a big way for the Fremd seniors to leave the gym, winning the program’s 11th sectional since the state tourney began in 1977 when the Vikings placed third under hall of famer Carol Plodzien for their first of six state trophies, including the championship in 2019 under the late hall of famer Dave Yates.

“I was thinking about him (Yates) the whole day,” Ella Todd said. “This is absolutely how he would have wanted us to play. We were so loose and energetic before the game. It was such a great opportunity for us and we worked for it all season. We really had each other’s backs and that’s what we needed to do to keep going forward.”

The Vikes (28-5) move forward to the Hersey supersectional, which will be played at the Forest View Education Center in Arlington Heights on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. against Glenbard West (23-12).

“We’ve been very fortunate to be very close to our school in all these games,” Han said. “First Hoffman Estates (regional), then Barrington and now Forest View in Arlington Heights. We feel fortunate to be in the supersectional. It’s always special. We want to celebrate this win for 24 hours and then get ready for the next game.”

Neither team led by more than 2 points in the opening quarter as a layup by Anna Montella at the buzzer tied the game at 12-12.

Gina Fall’s third 3-pointer gave Prospect a 17-16 lead when Fremd went on an 8-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Ellie Thompson, a corner 3-pointer by Urlacher off a long baseline crosscourt pass from Sophia McMillan and a layup by Ella Todd off a steal and assist from Urlacher that made it 24-17.

“We were very loose before the game,” said Urlacher who scored 11 points. “We were just trying to enjoy it and play hard.”

Prospect got back to within 24-21 at intermission thanks to Sadie Splinter’s drive and assist in the lane to Colleen Shute, who converted the layup just before the buzzer.

Fremd opened the second half on a 9-0 run and never looked back.

Urlacher hit 2 free throws after she was fouled following her steal near half court. Todd put in back-to-back layups and Ellie Thompson (12 points, four 3-pointers) took a great pass from her sister Greta and capped the run with a 3-pointer for a 33-21 cushion.

Leading 33-25, Ella Todd made a nifty spin move for a layup and Urlacher hit an up-and-under layup with 2:25 left in the period for a 37-25 lead. Linke’s reverse layup got the Knights to within 40-29 after three quarters.

“I thought defensively, Linke is a load, she is so difficult to guard,” Han said. “And I think Bella Del Mar (senior) did a great job on her, trying to contain her as much as possible. And it was a lot of team defense, which is what we preach. We don’t do it alone, we do it together.”

“Give credit to Prospect. They had a great season. They are well coached. They’ve got a lot of good weapons.”

In addition to Linke, also reaching double figures for Prospect (27-8) was Falls (12 points) as the Knights kept things interesting right to the end.

“That’s been our MO all season,” said Prospect coach Matt Weber. “We’re just a team that is never going to quit. These girls are going to continue to fight. I’m just so proud of this group. They really set a standard for Prospect girls basketball and really kind of shaped this program. They constantly work hard and are unselfish. They always had the team-first mentality and that’s why they had the success this year.”

Making its second appearance in a MSL title game in four seasons, the Knights lost to Fremd 48-37 on Feb. 13.

“Congratulations to Fremd,” Weber said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons. They did a good job of adjusting to things in the second half and it took us a while to kind of get used to that. But I’m still so proud of this group and the seniors who provided so much leadership for Prospect girls basketball.”