South Elgin breaks open close game with Streamwood

South Elgin and Streamwood played an unscheduled doubleheader Friday night.

The first game was a back-and-forth affair between two evenly matched teams. The second was all South Elgin.

Of course, it counted as only one game, which the Storm won 58-33, but the contrast was jarring.

The first half featured 11 lead changes and ended with South Elgin up 29-28. The Storm then outscored the Sabres 15-0 in the third quarter and held Streamwood to 5 total second-half points while pulling away.

Megan McClure had 13 points and 6 rebounds for South Elgin. Raina Yang added 12 points, Ella Winterhalder 11, and Madison Waichunas 10.

Kaylee Angle and Peyton Hedger scored 10 apiece for Streamwood.

South Elgin installed a diamond-and-one press defense earlier in the week, and the Storm are apparently quick learners. Using it throughout the game, the Storm forced 31 turnovers, including 21 in the second half.

"In the first half we didn't play so well, so we wanted to come out and show who we actually were, and we were able to play the defense that we always play, because defense first," said Storm guard Caroline Croft. "Then it worked on offense, too."

"At halftime, we were up by 1 and we said we were like, 'Oh, we can't let this happen anymore,'" said McClure. "So we were able to get back quicker and be able to stop them on defense."

South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack wished his team could have played with the same intensity in the first half as it did in the second.

"I told them at halftime and I told them at the end of the third quarter when we pulled away a little bit, 'You can't do this three weeks from now because we'll be going home. You have to have that sense of urgency,'" he said. "We had silly turnovers (in the first half). It felt like Thanksgiving turnovers. Even from our seniors who know better, a couple of silly passes."

Streamwood grabbed an early 11-5 lead after a 3-pointer by Angle. The Storm roared back to go ahead 12-11 on a Winterhalder 3, and the teams proceeded to trade leads for the rest of the half.

But coming out of the locker room for the second half, the Sabres could get nothing going. They missed all 8 shots in the period while turning the ball over 14 times.

"We played well in the first half, should have had the lead in the first half, and then in the second half we did nothing," said Streamwood coach George Rosner. "It's probably the worst half we've played in a long, long time."

Angle accounted for all the Sabres' second-half points with a 3-pointer and a putback in the fourth quarter.

Mandy Mien added 8 points for Streamwood.