advertisement

South Elgin girls still perfect in Upstate Eight

South Elgin scored in mini-bunches Tuesday night in Aurora.

But the Storm girls basketball team is still undefeated in Upstate Eight Conference play after escaping West Aurora with a 34-31 victory.

South Elgin freshman guard Caroline Craft drained a 3-pointer from the left wing with three minutes and 29 seconds remaining to cap a 7-0 run that began with back-to-back driving scores by Megan McClure and Madison Waichunas.

The Storm would not score again, only to improve to 9-5 overall and 7-0 in league play when Keva Tomas' potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced harmlessly off the back rim.

"We were driving and kicking," Croft said of the decisive 3-pointer. "I shot with confidence, and it happened to go in. More shots started to fall (in the second half)."

The first half could not have been more disheartening for South Elgin.

The Storm scored the first 3 points of the game, only to see the Blackhawks answer with the final 10 points of the quarter.

South Elgin missed 13 of its 14 first-quarter shots from the floor, and the second quarter did not bring much better shooting percentages as the Storm entered the half firing at a 4-for-26 pace (15 percent).

"We were getting good shots," said South Elgin senior guard Casey Breenan, who scored a game-high 12 points. "We just knew we had to play our game. (The Blackhawks) were fast and aggressive. We had to keep our poise."

Ana Karanovic had half of the Blackhawks' 6 points to close out the second quarter in giving West Aurora (8-4, 4-3) a 16-10 lead at halftime.

But South Elgin opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers by Brennan and McClure to quickly erase its 6-point deficit at the break.

"We told (our players) at halftime that South Elgin would come out with some vigor," West Aurora coach Teresa Waldinger said. "They certainly did. We couldn't stop them."

Only four players would score in all for South Elgin, but West Aurora also went considerable periods without finding the range from the floor.

Tomas (7 points) and West Aurora post Olivia Vanderwoude (6) had two inside scores apiece in the third quarter as the Blackhawks held a slender 26-25 lead entering the final quarter.

Dajour Miles' 10 points paced West Aurora; the senior guard had the only points for the team in the fourth quarter on 3 free throws and one of her patented slashing scores off the dribble.

"We need to play like that the whole game and not just in patches," Miles said of the Blackhawks' 7-point lead after the first.

McClure and Croft scored 10 and 8 points, respectively, for South Elgin.

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.