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Schaumburg finds winning blend against Niles West

Sophomore Mallory Gerber was as quick to pinpoint the reason for Schaumburg's most recent success as she was to deliver a team-high 5 assists in Saturday's nonconference girls basketball game against visiting Niles West.

"We have been developing better teamwork every game," said the 5-foot-11 Gerber after the Saxons recorded their fifth straight win, 58-49, and eighth out of their last 10 games. "And better team chemistry."

Speaking of chemistry, Gerber has the right mix.

With her 5 assists, she also scored 9 points and grabbed 3 rebounds.

"She definitely does a nice job balancing her ability to score and getting everyone involved," said Schaumburg coach Curtis Goodwin, whose team is 12-9. "That's a lot to ask of a sophomore but she she's smart and gets it done."

Senior Jada Blackwell, who missed most of the first half by picking up two early fouls, didn't miss many shots and finished with a game-high 19 points (15 in the second half), including 3-of-4 free throws.

Also matching Gerber's 9 points were teammates Brittany Reinhart (5 rebounds, and Laura O'Connell (7 rebounds).

Tatiana Doroksin and Taylor Helton each pulled down 4 rebounds.

"Taylor comes in and give us a nice spark," Goodwin added.

The Saxons clicked for five 3-pointers, including a pair of Paige Alt (6 points) and Blackwell and one by Reinhart.

"Any time you can attack the basket and knock down the 3s, that's a dangerous combination and they did a nice job of that," said Wolves coach Tony Konsewicz. "They ran their sets real well and we didn't communicate well defensively.

"Offensively, we weren't aggressive enough attacking the basket. We might make one dribble and that was it. We have to do a better job at that."

Niles West (11-12) led 10-9 after one quarter with senior guard-forward Hilma Mededovic accounting for all of the Wolves' points. She ended up with 16 for the game.

Junior guard Jaylnn Estrada had the hot hand in the second half, scoring all 14 of her points, including 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

"Jaylnn is a wonderful player," Konsewicz said. "She just needs consistency the whole game."

Schaumburg nursed a 2-point lead with 1:45 left in the first half but was able to close with a 6-0 run, getting a layup by Gerber, inside bucket from O'Connell and a 10-footer by Doroskin with 20 seconds left for a 25-17 lead.

The Saxons didn't miss a beat to start the third quarter, going on a 13-3 run to lead 38-20.

With the help of 3-pointers by Estrada and Katherine DeLara, the Wolves got back to within 38-30.

However, Gerber made a pair of free throws with 55 seconds left in the third quarter and the visitors never got within single digits again.

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