Croft caps South Elgin's 21-point comeback win over St. Charles North

South Elgin girls basketball coach Dan Mandernack recorded a milestone with his 100th career victory following Tuesday night's 49-46 comeback victory over Glenbard South.

There is little doubt that Mandernack will long remember his 101st victory, too.

Trailing by as many as 21 points late in the first half, the Storm (5-1) still found themselves behind St. Charles North 43-29 after 3 quarters.

After putting together an 11-0 spurt to trim the deficit to 46-42 with 3:21 remaining, the Storm finished the game with 7 consecutive points over the final 51 seconds to pull out a 53-52 nonconference victory Wednesday night in South Elgin.

Sophomore guard Caroline Croft's driving layup with 10.7 seconds left wound up as the game-winner - a shot that ironically gave South Elgin its first lead of the night.

"I knew they (North Stars) had to take away the shooters or come and help take away me," said Croft, who finished with 8 points and 3 steals. "I decided to drive, I got an open lane and I was able to finish.

"It feels great to come back and win like that."

The improbable rally didn't seem possible when the North Stars (4-2) led 31-10 with 2:20 left in the second quarter.

Junior forward Tatum Settelmyer scored 12 of her game-high 23 points in the first half as the North Stars opened a 34-17 halftime advantage.

"Their defense was outstanding in the first half," said Mandernack, whose team also lost the services of senior guard Aryanna Williams to a knee injury late in the opening quarter.

"She's the heart and soul of our team and our leading scorer right now. When Ary got hurt, you could tell it deflated us. We had to regroup."

With his team down by 17 at halftime, Mandernack hung on to some hope.

"I felt it was still reasonable," he said. "I was almost ready to tell them, 'Let's win the second half by 1 or 2 points.' I said it and then I said, 'Forget it, we're going to come back and do this.'"

Sophomore guard Ella Winterhalder led the Storm with 19 points, while seniors Madison Waichunas and Megan McClure added 8 and 7 points, respectively.

"They refused to lose," said Mandernack. "I got my 100th win last night but this has to be the craziest one."

Playing without seniors Caroline Jakaitis, Leilauni Chanthaboury and sophomore guard Emma Ludwig, the North Stars received solid contributions from Talia Pellegrini (8 points, 4 assists), Alyssa Hughes (8 points, 4 rebounds) and Emma Nawara (6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals).

"We got up about 20 and said, 'We're good - we can put it on cruise control,' and that's frustrating," said North Stars coach Mike Tomczak. "In the end, I put it on me as a coach. We have a rule here - under 3 (3-point loss) on me. We'll coach better next time.

"The fourth quarter was rough. I want to give them (Storm) credit. They played hard and hit some big shots."