Streamwood handles Cary-Grove

Fifth-seed Streamwood never trailed Tuesday in a 60-52 win over No. 4 Cary-Grove in the Class 4A Larkin regional semifinals.

The reward for the Sabres (15-13) is a chance to play top seed South Elgin for the regional title Thursday night.

"Our goal is to win a regional," Streamwood coach George Rosner said. "This was a tough step. They had beaten us. We felt if we played our best game we would be in good shape."

Jenejha Williams returned to the lineup after having to sit out Monday's win over Elgin for picking up two technicals Friday against St. Charles North. She led the Sabres with 21 points.

"It wasn't the greatest game yesterday but they got the job done," Williams said."Today I said I owe it to my team. We have to win. Because they played for me hard yesterday."

Williams got Streamwood off to a good start with a quick basket. She scored 5 points in the first quarter and Monica Brown and Mandy Mien made all 4 of their free throws for an 11-6 lead after one quarter.

Cary-Grove (16-12) struggled to get much going offensively by anyone besides Katie Sowa.

"I thought defensively we played much, much better than we have been," said Rosner, who won his 399th game at Streamwood. "We made them work hard for their shots. We stayed patient defensively."

The Trojans briefly tied the game at 11 on Becca Kendeigh's 2 free throws before the Sabres rattled off 6 straight, again getting 4-for-4 free throw shooting from Mien and Maddi Exline.

By halftime Streamwood led 24-16, which ballooned to 42-26 after three.

The Trojans tried to rally in the fourth, pulling within 46-37 on a 3-pointer by Madeline Gorz. A jumper by Rebecca Roncone put the Sabres back up 11.

Another 3 from Gorz brought Cary-Grove within 53-47 with two minutes to go. Williams and Mien knocked down 4 straight at the line for a 57-47 lead with 1:09 left.

Mien added 13 points and Exline 11 while Sowa led Cary-Grove with 24.

"We moved the ball well," Rosner said. "We rebounded on the offensive end very well."