Hernandez eclipses 1,000 as Bartlett tops Streamwood
Clinging to a 2-point lead at halftime, the Bartlett girls basketball team knew it had to show its toughness against U-46 rival Streamwood.
The first time the two teams met, the Hawks led through most of the game only to see the Sabres come back in the fourth quarter for a 43-36 victory. This time, in the Upstate Eight Conference crossover third place game, Bartlett didn’t face a Streamwood rally as the host Hawks won 58-39 on Thursday night.
To top it off, Bartlett senior Alyssa Hernandez eclipsed the 1,000 career point milestone with a game-high 19 points. She needed 16 at the start of the game.
“It felt good,” Hernandez said of reaching the milestone. “Coach told me before the game that I needed 16 points, and the whole team was saying they were going to get me the ball. It didn’t matter to me who scored, I just wanted the team to score.”
Hernandez, who also grabbed 8 rebounds in the effort, was halfway there after two quarters scoring 8 points. Kaitlin Brohan (13 points) also put 8 points on the board in the first half, but the Hawks (15-12) held only a 28-26 lead at halftime over the Sabres (19-8).
However, the Hawks ran away with it in the third quarter outscoring Streamwood 15-3 to take a 43-29 lead into the fourth quarter. Hernandez scored 7 of her points in that period, and her layup 53 seconds into the fourth gave Bartlett a 45-31 lead and her 1,001 career points.
“At halftime, coach (Denise Sarna) said we have to tighten up, and we did,” said Hernandez, who transferred to Bartlett from Lake Park prior to the start of this school year. “Everybody stepped up, and it was a total team effort.”
Streamwood committed 8 of its 22 turnovers of the game in the third quarter, and the Sabres trailed by double-digits throughout the fourth.
“They forced us to turn the ball over without pressing us in the second half,” Sabres’ coach George Rosner said. “We were careless with the ball. Give Bartlett’s defense credit, but we can’t have so many unforced turnovers.”
Elizabeth Arco had 8 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Hawks, and both Chantel Zasada and Ally Giampapa added 7 points.
The Sabres were led by Jessica Cerda’s 11 points and Deja Moore’s 8 points and 9 rebounds.
Streamwood, which will host a Class 4A regional, will open the postseason on Tuesday against the winner of Monday’s Jacobs vs. Dundee-Crown game. Bartlett opens the Wheaton Warrenville South regional against York on Tuesday.
“You want to keep getting better and better, and I think we did tonight,” Sarna said. “We have a tough game ahead of us.”