Bartlett overcomes horrid first quarter to roll by South Elgin
It's not often a team shoots 1 of 22 in the first quarter and then wins the game by 25 points.
But that's what happened to the Bartlett girls basketball team Friday night.
After senior Kayla Hare made the Hawks' first field goal attempt just 38 seconds into the game, Bartlett proceeded to miss its next 21 shot attempts, including all 10 from 3-point range, and trailed 7-4 after the first 8 minutes.
But the Hawks righted the ship, going 19-for-38 the rest of the way in posting a 52-27 Upstate Eight Valley win over South Elgin.
"We were a little down because we weren't shooting well," said Hare, the Missouri-St. Louis recruit who finished with a game-high 21 points, 10 steals and 6 rebounds. "We put all of our energy into our defense and that got our offense going.
"Every time we play South Elgin there's always this extra thing. We're always pumped and excited to go get 'em."
South Elgin had its own shooting woes - at the free throw line. The Storm went 1 of 8 from the line in the first quarter and 7-for-22 for the game.
"The first quarter was probably the game," said Storm coach Dan Mandernack, whose team had a 3-game winning streak snapped.
"When you're up 7-4 but you go 1-for-8 from the free throw line ... it's a road game and we talked about being road tough and having a sense of urgency. We let an opportunity get away. It's disappointing."
Hare scored the first basket of the second quarter to draw Bartlett within 1 at 7-6 and when junior Teagan Noesen nailed a 3-pointer at the 5:34 mark of the period to give her team a 9-6 lead, the Hawks were off and flying. By halftime Bartlett (6-4, 2-0) was up 20-13 and South Elgin (4-4, 1-1) never got closer.
"We've been struggling shooting the basketball and it's cost us a couple of wins," said Bartlett coach Brad Hunt. "Teagan finally hit a 3 and it kind of let everyone know there's not a lid on the rim."
It didn't help South Elgin's cause that its leading scorer, senior Catora Brown, spent much of the game on the bench in foul trouble. Brown, who scored only 1 point, picked up her third foul with 4:43 left in the first quarter and her fourth with 4:29 to go in the half before fouling out early in the fourth quarter when the game was all but over.
"It's hard when your best player has three fouls in the first quarter," Mandernack said. "Our leading scorer has one point all night. It was hard for her to find her rhythm tonight."
As it was for the Storm as a whole. The Hawks' defense harassed South Elgin into 23 turnovers, 11 of which Bartlett turned into points.
The Hawks really turned on the jets in the second half. Hare opened the third quarter with a layup off a steal, then Noesen and Hare buried back-to-back 3s and Bartlett had a 27-13 lead less than 3 minutes into the third quarter. As South Elgin, which was 10-for-40 shooting from the field for the game, struggled to score, Bartlett extended the lead to 38-18 by the end of the third then scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to open up a 49-18 lead, its biggest advantage of the night.
"Although we didn't shoot well our energy was unmatched," said Hunt, whose team travels to Des Plaines Monday night to take on undefeated Maine West, the No. 3 ranked team in the Daily Herald Top 20. "Kayla on top with the steals - that's all-state caliber. We needed that (win). It's a beautiful thing."
Noesen added 11 points and 7 rebounds for the Hawks while freshman Alexis Sinclair had 10 points.
Senior Aniya Zinnerman and junior Rachel Kelly led South Elgin with 6 points each.