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Cary-Grove handles South Elgin

The final of the Class 4A South Elgin girls basketball regional will be an all-Fox Valley Conference affair.

Cary-Grove used a strong first half to down the host Storm, 69-37 Tuesday, and will face Dundee-Crown in Thursday's title game.

Katie Sowa scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half and Maddie Jannusch 12 of her game-high 18 as the Trojans roared out to a 34-8 lead.

Abby Getka and Elsa Larry each added 9 points for the Trojans (18-10). With Junnusch and Sowa combining for 13 first-quarter points, C-G raced to leads of 7-0 and 22-4.

While Cary-Grove's defense was stout, the Storm simply couldn't buy a basket. They made just 4 of 28 first-half shots (14 percent), missing numerous layups and open jump shots.

"I told them, the basketball gods just weren't on our side tonight," said South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack. "We were ice cold and obviously Cary plays really, really good D. At halftime I said the shots have just got to start falling. If they don't let's try to win the third quarter. We cut it to 17 miraculously, somehow, and they actually called a timeout. So I couldn't be prouder. I told them that if we're going to go out, let's go out leaving it all on the court like they have all year."

The Storm finally got some karma from the rims. Lexi Roberts and Catora Brown knocked down 3-pointers, and Miah Galvin converted an old-fashioned 3-point play as part of a 12-5 run to open the second half. The Storm did win the quarter, 20-15, but could never really put a dent in the Trojans' big lead.

Roberts finished with 11 points for the Storm (13-14), which saw almost a complete turnover from last year's school record-setting squad.

Brown, Galvin, and Megan McClure each scored 7 points for South Elgin. Gavin also grabbed 7 rebounds as the Storm outrebounded C-G, 30-28.

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