Mien sparks Streamwood to opening win over Jacobs
It seemed when Streamwood needed a crucial basket or a key assist three-year starter Mandy Mien was involved.
Mien, the lone starter returning for the Sabres, tallied 19 points with 4 assists and 5 steals as Streamwood steamrollered Jacobs 54-45 in action at the Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament Wednesday night.
It was the season-opener for both teams.
"Mandy is certainly one of the best point guards in the area," said Sabres coach George Rosner. "She has been outstanding for us. She does a great job of getting us in our offense and making sure we get a good shot. Her decision-making is outstanding."
Mien, a junior, connected of 7-of-10 shots from the free-throw line.
"We came out with a lot of energy and our eyes were active defensively," said Mien. "It was great to play a game and get a win. I got some good passes from teammates to get some easy shots."
With Mien scoring 5 points, the Sabres jumped out to a 8-0 lead. Jacobs, which missed its first 8 shots, didn't score until Liz Schwartz buried a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in the first quarter to make the score 8-3. That was the score after 8 minutes.
Streamwood's biggest lead was 33-19 after a 3-pointer from Peyton Hedger with 2:36 remaining in the third quarter.
The Golden Eagles didn't quit and got to within 43-39 on a 3 by Courtney Durben with 2:56 remaining. Jacobs couldn't get any closer as Streamwood scored its final 11 points on free throws including 4-of-4 from Riya Patel 3-of-4 from Hedger. Vickie Kopko made both her free throws.
"I liked the way we knocked down our free throws at the end of the game," said Rosner. "For a first game we did some good things but we are capable of playing better. We are playing a lot of seniors but they don't have a lot of game experience."
Hedger backed Mien with 13 for the winners, who were 27-of-45 from the free-throw line for 60 percent.
Jacobs, 6-of-20 from 3-point range for 30 percent. was led by Durben (3 treys) and Schwartz (two 3s) with 12 points apiece.
"We certainly had the jitters to start the game," said Jacobs first-year coach Jon Reibel. "We didn't give up and kept fighting. I would have liked to have got to the basket and got more layups. We put them on the free-throw line way too much. They shot 45 free throws and that is way too many. We made some defensive adjustments at halftime and I thought we played much better on the defensive end in the second half. We showed growth as a team as the game went on."