South Elgin overtakes St. Edward in 4th quarter
If there was supposed to be a little rust after a couple days off over New Years, somebody forgot to tell South Elgin and St. Edward.
The Green Wave opened the nonconference matchup Wednesday sinking 8 of their 15 shots in the first quarter only to be outdone by the Storm who made 9 of 14.
While that hot shooting didn't last, the intensity continued until the final buzzer with South Elgin holding on for a 55-53 victory on its home court.
"That first quarter was crazy, neither team could miss a shot," South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack said. "St. Edward has a really good program, they went downstate last year, they have a lot of the girls back, they are playing the big school in the area and they are going to come out with a sense of urgency. And they did."
St. Edward (10-5) scored its first 9 points on 3-pointers, one by Yssa Sto. Domingo and the other two from Madison Knott. The score was tied at 19 after one quarter.
South Elgin (6-7) only turned the ball over nine times, but five of them came in a second quarter when the Storm were held to 8 points to fall behind 34-27 at halftime.
Trailing 38-31 midway through the third quarter, the Storm started their comeback on a spin move by Megan McClure. Catora Brown scored on a backdoor cut, then was fouled with no time on the clock and made one free throw to bring South Elgin within 41-38 going to the fourth.
Another backdoor basket, this one by Lexi Roberts on a feed from McClure, gave the Storm a 44-43 lead.
"Our defense wasn't the greatest tonight but we all came together and had good passes and good backdoors," Storm point guard Casey Brennan said.
Roberts nailed a 3 for a 51-45 lead, and the Storm were still up 55-48 in the final 10 seconds before St. Edward nearly pulled off a miraculous finish. Sto. Domingo drilled an NBA-range 3 with 5.7 seconds left, then Mariel Franco stole the inbounds pass and scored with :2.8 left to make it 55-53. South Elgin was able to inbound to Brennan who dribbled out the clock.
"That got a little scary at the end but really proud of them," Mandernack said. "This was probably our best overall team win this year."
Brown led the Storm with 18 points and Roberts scored 10.
"I knew we just needed to work together more," Roberts said. "They blew us out by a lot last year and I was really looking forward to this game."
Franco (18 points, 7 rebounds), Knott (13 points) and Sto. Domingo (11) all reached double figures for St. Edward while Mallory Rejman grabbed 10 rebounds.
"We needed to have a better defensive effort," St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. "Second half we weren't our normal selves on defense disrupting passes and rebounding like we normally do. That's what the letdown was."