South Elgin pulls away from Streamwood for 6th straight win

South Elgin and Streamwood both found reasons to celebrate following their Upstate Eight Conference matchup Friday night.

For the Storm, they left Streamwood with a 61-44 victory, their sixth in a row, placing four players in double figures.

For the Sabres, they had a chance to honor senior point guard Mandy Mien, the school's all-time leader in assists, who scored her 1,000th point in her previous game Tuesday at East Aurora.

Streamwood coach George Rosner presented Mien with a game ball and made a brief announcement following the game. She scored 17 points - nobody else had more than 6 - and is the ninth player in school history with 1,000.

"Very proud of her," Rosner said. "I think that's a pretty neat achievement to be a 1,000-point scorer and far and away the assist leader. She's a great player."

"It means a lot hitting that milestone," Mien said. "It's been an honor really. My teammates have helped me reach this point and I'm thankful for them."

For awhile Streamwood (0-8, 0-4) looked like it could play spoiler against South Elgin (9-1, 4-0). Mien assisted on a pair of baskets by Vivian Sumoski that kept the Sabres within 12-11 after the first quarter.

Mien made a pair of free throws midway through the second quarter as Streamwood trailed 19-18. But the Storm ended the first half on a 9-1 run, then started the third quarter with the first 9 points to break the game open.

Mien's layup ended the 18-1 surge but by that time the 1-point game had become a 37-22 margin. The spread only grew from there as 19 Sabres turnovers in the first three quarters proved costly.

"At halftime we were kind of down on ourselves but we picked it up with that press," South Elgin sophomore Ella Winterhalder said.

"Coach said the first few minutes (of the third quarter) were really vital and we had to put it away early. We really picked it up."

Winterhalder led South Elgin with 20 points and 4 steals. Madison Waichunas, Caroline Croft and Megan McClure, who just scored her 1,000th point last week, all added 11 points.

The Storm are playing without senior Aryanna Williams, who was leading the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game before hurting her knee last week against St. Charles North. Storm coach Dan Mandernack said the team is waiting on results from an MRI on Wednesday. Freshman Raina Yang moved into the starting lineup.

"We all have to step up," Winterhalder said. "It's really important for our team. It's hard to guard all of us. So when one of our key members goes down we have to make sure that everyone steps up, not just one person. That was really important today."

Mandernack liked the team's ball movement offensively and the way they carved up the Sabres' 2-3 zone with cuts to open spots in the zone that led to high-percentage shots.

"We were running some five out cutting and finding little spots and the kids are so smart," Mandernack said. "They know exactly where to find the soft spot."

Vicki Kopko added 6 points for the Sabres and Sumoski grabbed a game-high 9 rebounds.

"We're trying to find who should be in there more and who can do what for us," Rosner said. "Some people do well in spurts, some do well on offense, some do well on defense. We're having trouble finding that combination. We've got things to work on."