Bartlett surprises South Elgin
Facing an experienced South Elgin squad, the Bartlett girls basketball team knew it needed a team effort.
Hosting the first meeting between the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division rivals, the Hawks got 21 points from Kaitlin Brohan and 14 off the bench from Lauren Janczak as Bartlett (5-5, 2-0) earned a 63-54 win over the Storm (4-4, 1-1) on Thursday.
Brohan established her shot early, scoring 7 points in the first quarter as the Hawks grabbed an 11-7 lead, and she added a pair of 3-pointers in the second, the last coming from long range at the buzzer for a 29-18 halftime lead.
“It’s been a struggle early, but I keep practicing it in practice,” Brohan said of her shot. “The team did a great job finding me when I was open. Overall, it was just a great team win.”
Bartlett kept the momentum at the break going by starting the second half with a 12-3 run to grab a 41-21 lead midway through the third quarter. Ally Giampapa (9 points) opened the half with a trey and scored 5 points during the run, and Janczak scored the final 5 points of the run finishing it with a 3.
The 20-point advantage was the largest of the night which Brohan gave the Hawks again at 47-27 after her fourth 3-pointer of the game. Bartlett led 47-30 entering the fourth quarter.
On the other side, the normally sharpshooting Storm went just 3-of-18 from behind the arc in the first half and they didn’t seem to find a rhythm until the final quarter. The Storm did finish the game with 9 3-pointers, three coming in the second half by their leading scorer Anna Tracy (13 points).
“We didn’t shoot well in the first half, and we didn’t really the entire game,” said Storm coach Tim Prendergast. “I can live with 3-for-18 from 3, but what I can’t live with is the way we defended them.”
Behind a 5-point fourth from Tracy and Kennede Miller (8 points, 5 rebounds), the Storm was able to pull within single digits. Nadia Yang’s (10 points) steal and layup pulled South Elgin to within 57-48 with 2:38 left to play, but Janczak countered with a 3 for a 60-48 lead.
Cara Fahey’s trey to end the scoring pulled the Storm to within single digits for the final score.
Brohan and Kelly Harris (8 points) each pulled down a team-high 9 rebounds as Bartlett won the boards 33-26.
“We’re capable of beating good teams like South Elgin,” said Hawks coach Denise Sarna. “Part of it is believing in us. If we’re in the right frame of mind we can beat strong teams, and we had that frame of mind tonight.”
Savanah Uveges finished with 9 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, and Delaney Kelleher had 8 points for the Storm.