South Elgin overcomes Jacobs

Delaney Kelleher made sure to remind teammate Bridgette Williams about how all South Elgin girls basketball players are supposed to conclude postgame interviews this season.

"Roll Storm," Kelleher said to Williams.

"Roll Storm," Williams repeated.

The Storm did not roll over and give in to early foul trouble or other adverse circumstances late Saturday afternoon and improved to 2-1 with a 51-43 victory over Jacobs in the third round of the Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament in Carpentersville.

"I'm proud of the kids," said first-year South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack. "They knew that wasn't us in the first half but in the third quarter we took a nice lead and that made it comfortable."

The Storm responded when it got a little uncomfortable after a steal and layup by Williams (game-high 14 points, 9 rebounds) pushed the lead to 25-19. Williams suddenly went from 2 to 4 fouls when she was whistled on Maggie Grady's layup and then got hit with a technical.

Jacobs (2-2 overall, 1-2 tourney) senior Jessica Powell (11 points) hit both free throws. But a chance to tie or take its first lead since 2-0 resulted in one of its 13 turnovers in the third and 27 overall.

Nadia Yang drove the lane and dished 1 of her 6 assists to senior Laura McIntosh (12 points, 11 rebounds) for a layup to start a 7-point Storm run.

"In the second half we were able to get back to playing real aggressive and trapping and making it chaotic," Mandernack said after the Storm scored 24 points off turnovers.

"When we're all working as a team on defense, that's what causes turnovers," Kelleher said. "If we continue to play like a team we'll get a lot of turnovers."

South Elgin shot just 28.1 percent (18-for-64) from the field but had rebound advantages of 37-28 overall and 17-4 offensively.

"That was huge key, getting a lot of offensive rebounds," Williams said. "Mandernack pushes us in practice to always hustle, always get the ball and don't give a team multiple chances."

Kelleher also limited the chances for Powell, who averaged 27.5 points and hit 11 3-pointers in the Golden Eagles' first two games. Powell was 3-for-6 behind the 3-point arc but two of them were in the final 2:16 during a 10-point run that sliced South Elgin's lead to 49-43.

"The way we play, we deny everything and we deny the wings," Mandernack said of purposely not mentioning Powell's early-season success to his team before the game.

"I had no idea," Kelleher said. "Defensively you deny them and try to get in their head and have a lot of ball pressure."

Sophomore Carly Sidor had 9 points and 7 rebounds for Jacobs, which shot 28.6 from the field (10-for-35) and was 19-for-31 on free throws.

"We had problems with their pressure but we're going to get better at that," said Jacobs coach Joe Benoit, whose team lost to unbeaten Rockton Hononegah on Friday. "We had a hard time defending the dribble and they were able to break us down and get some scores, but I'm proud of our kids effort.

"They kept pushing and didn't quit. I'm encouraged about the kids' play and these games are only going to make us better."