advertisement

Burlington Central shoots past South Elgin

Burlington Central scheduled a number of Class 4A schools on its nonconference slate this season, and the Rockets' first challenge came Saturday afternoon at South Elgin.

Thanks to 22 points from junior Kathryn Schmidt and 20 from sophomore Elana Wells, the Rockets passed that test in thrilling fashion, coming from 8 points behind in the fourth quarter to win 54-52.

It's the first of three straight 4A exams for Burlington Central (10-1) whose next two games are at Batavia and Dundee-Crown.

"It's a nice change from our conference to play really good teams like this," Schmidt said. "They (South Elgin) hit a lot of shots. It's fun to get out and play with them."

The teams traded the lead 9 times. After the Rockets jumped out to a 14-2 start, South Elgin chipped away to within 30-28 at halftime. The Storm kept surging in the third quarter to build their biggest lead at 45-37 before the Rockets rallied in the fourth.

"Intensity happened, we had to play defense, we had to be smart on our plays, make stops, capitalize on offense," Wells said. "Our conference isn't that strong but playing these nonconference games is fun. I like the competition."

Schmidt and Wells both made six 3-pointers. The final of those came from Schmidt well behind the 3-point arc with 3:20 remaining, erasing South Elgin's last lead of the game and putting the Rockets up 50-48.

Megan McClure drove to tie the game for South Elgin (8-5). The Storm got the ball back with a chance for the lead. But when their shot missed Wells chased down the long rebound and raced the other way, banking in an off-balance lay-in to give the Rockets the lead for good at 52-50 with 1:40 left.

"Coach said to attack the basket, play smart," Wells said. "I was hoping for a foul but didn't get it but glad the ball went in."

Burlington Central held, then extended to a 54-50 lead when Madelyn Menke drove baseline and fed Schmidt for an inside basket. McClure scored for the Storm with 5 seconds remaining, Wells missed a free throw with :1.7 left but South Elgin didn't have time to get off a desperation full-court heave.

With South Elgin up 45-38, Wells and Schmidt nailed long 3s in a 20-second span to quickly bring the Rockets within a point. It was back and forth from there with Schmidt finding Zoey Kollhoff for a conventional 3-point play to match a 3-pointer from South Elgin's Casey Brennan.

"They have two Division I players, it is what it is," South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack said. "I scheduled this game to play a great team, big crowd, playoff atmosphere. We're 6-0 in conference and we're all focusing on that but today was an opportunity to play a really good team. They hit some big shots."

Brennan led South Elgin with 17 points including a 3 to cap a 12-4 run to end the third quarter. McClure added 14 points, freshman Ella Winterhalder came off the bench for 9 points in the first half, and Miah Galvin finished with 8 points and 6 rebounds.

The Storm played without Aryanna Williams, their second leading scorer who recently broke her foot and is out at least six weeks.

"Our girls stepped up and met the challenge," Mandernack said. "Just excited to see where this takes us. They (Wells and Schmidt) weren't getting layups or running a set play, they were pretty much coming down and being all-state caliber players. Those girls are really good. We'll just learn from it."

Kollhoff added 7 points for the Rockets while providing much of the defense on South Elgin's leading scorer McClure. Reili Gardner hustled for 7 rebounds.

"South Elgin played well," Rockets coach Mark Smith said. "We haven't played a team like that for awhile. Just a gutty, great fourth quarter for us. Hit some 3s and pulled it out."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.