Rolling Meadows did not come into the Montini Christmas Tournament in a giving mood.
Instead, the Mustangs took control of their opening round game Monday from the get-go and never gave it up. Jackie Kemph scored on a layup three seconds into the contest and that was a sign of things to come as Rolling Meadows rolled to a 91-44 victory over Proviso West.
The Mustangs (12-1), who lost to Montini in last year’s tournament championship game, will take on Neuqua Valley (11-3), a 58-35 winner over DeKalb, in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
“Our goal was just trying to set the tone for the entire tournament,” Rolling Meadows guard Alexis Glasgow said. “Coming back after losing this last year, I think we kind of have a chip on our shoulder and we’re just trying to set a good tone for the rest of the tournament because Neuqua Valley is going to be really tough and it just gets tougher down the road.”
The Mustangs were mighty tough in this one, scoring the game’s first 14 points, including 11 from Kemph, who consistently shredded Proviso West’s defense with fast-break layups.
Kemph and Glasgow lit up the Panthers (5-3) for a combined 48 points in the first half, which ended with the Mustangs ahead 61-24. Kemph scored 25 of her game-high 34 points before intermission, while Glasgow poured in all but three of her 26.
Kemph was 12-for-16 from the field and 9-for-12 from the free-throw line, while the Northwestern-bound Glasgow made 9-of-15 field goal attempts. Six of them were three-pointers, including five from NBA range.
“I definitely think we played our game really well today,” Kemph said. “Alexis hit a lot of big shots and that opened a lot up for us.”
Kemph and Glasgow worked the two-man game to perfection, often setting each other up with passes. Kemph had five assists, while Glasgow had three in addition to seven rebounds.
“Jackie had some good passes,” Glasgow said. “Her drives opened it up for me and vice versa: my shooting opens up the lane for her, so it’s just kind of good deal.”
Forward Jenny Vliet added 13 points, 11 rebounds and three assists for the Mustangs, while Katie Shewmon had seven points and seven boards off the bench.
Mikaela Boyd led Proviso West with 15 points, five rebounds and four steals.
