Bartlett runs away with South Elgin
Coming off a big win over Neuqua Valley on Saturday to pull even in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division race, the Bartlett girls basketball team made sure to keep that momentum going when rival South Elgin visited on Tuesday night.
Behind a stifling defensive effort that forced 21 Storm turnovers in the game and a hot night from behind the arc that included nine 3-pointers, the Hawks ran away with a 56-28 victory.
Bartlett (15-7, 8-1) put the game away early not allowing South Elgin (13-9, 6-4) on the board until a Bridgette Williams bucket with 1:15 left in the first quarter. Before that, the Hawks had built an 18-0 lead as Kaitlin Brohan scored half of her 14 points and Lauren Janczak 5 of her 7.
"I think our team is just going up from here," Brohan said. "We knew coming in that South Elgin was a good team, but we just had to play good defense. It was a great team win."
Hawks' coach Denise Sarna said her team met its pregame goal of at least 18 assists, and freshman Kayla Hare was a big beneficiary of that off the bench. Bartlett's bench outscored the Storm's starters 23-18 led by Hare's 14 points.
Hare got her 14-point effort started in the second quarter when she knocked down all 3 of her attempts from behind the arc, and the Hawks built a 35-10 lead by the break. Hare added 5 more points in the third quarter including her fourth trey, and Bartlett's lead expanded to 50-20 entering the fourth.
"My teammates gave great passes tonight, and they set up some open looks for me," said Hare.
Although the Storm was unable to close the gap in the second half, South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack was happy with the effort. Williams and Mackenzie Kelleher (6 rebounds) both had 6 points to lead the effort, and Cara Fahey 4 points and 5 rebounds.
"Bartlett's obviously really hot right now and coming off a huge win over Neuqua Valley," Mandernack said. "We knew with Nadia (Yang) out, that would eventually come back to bite our offense. We've got (Bartlett) again at our place, and I know we'll have a much better game on our home court."
Yang, the Storm's junior point guard, is out for the season after recently having knee surgery.
Bartlett, now winners of 10 of its last 13 games, had 5 different players knock down a 3 and 8 players put points on the board. Kelly Harris contributed 8 points in the effort.
"Just a great day for us," Sarna said. "We had a lot of different players come in and have a great game. I thought Kayla had a great game off the bench, and we just had a lot of steady performances tonight."