South Elgin handles Larkin behind McClure's 33

After a strong start by South Elgin, a second-quarter lull allowed Larkin to stay in the game. But the second half was all South Elgin.

Led by Megan McClure, the Storm came out of the locker room hitting on all cylinders. The big second half carried the Storm to a 68-24 victory in the Upstate Eight matchup in Elgin.

McClure scored 16 of her game-high 33 points in the third period as the Storm outscored Larkin 29-9.

Freshman Ella Winterhalder added 9 points for South Elgin (3-3, 2-0).

Sparked by their pressing, trapping defense, the Storm blew out to a 16-2 lead. But they hit an offensive drought in the second quarter, missing 8 straight shots at one point.

Meanwhile, Larkin, sparked by Janelle Clements off the bench, scored 9 straight points to get within 23-15.

The Royals' Brianna Young scored the first basket of the second half to make it 25-17, but that was as close as they got. South Elgin scored the next 11, with McClure hitting two 3-pointers in the run.

The Storm then closed the game on a 23-0 run.

"I told the girls, we're going to open some eyes," said Storm coach Dan Mandernack. "Our confidence is really high. They're really clicking on all cylinders. It was an exciting game. I told them that Larkin is just coming over to this side of the conference, and we want to show them and everyone else that we're going to be right there in the mix."

The Storm used the second-quarter lapse as motivation during halftime.

"When we went into the locker room for halftime, we all got pumped up and we all hugged each other," said McClure. "When we came out, we played harder because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could extend the lead."

Clements scored all 10 of her points in the first half for Larkin (1-6, 0-2). Young added 8, but the Storm's pressure was just too much for the Royals. The pressure forced 33 Larkin turnovers.

"Once we get pressed, our girls right now are struggling to break it," said Larkin coach Steve Knapp. "We're turning the ball over on their side, giving them easy points. We just need to get better fundamentally."

Aryanna Williams added 6 points for South Elgin despite foul trouble, and Casey Brennan had 7 rebounds to go with 5 points.