Streamwood makes it three straight over Elgin

An old saying goes that it's hard to beat a team three times. But that was the task facing the Streamwood Sabres as they faced Elgin for the third time in the Class 4A regional opener Monday at Chesbrough Field House.

So the Sabres changed things up a little bit in a 67-38 victory.

"We knew Elgin was going to come out and be prepared and give us some problems," said Sabres coach George Rosner. "We had to stay focused and stay with our game plan.

"We put in some new stuff actually. We did it more for some of the personnel that we had."

Peyton Hedger started for the Sabres (8-22), who hoped to take advantage of her outside shooting ability. After a couple of early misses, she wound up leading Streamwood with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.

Riya Patel scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Mandy Mien chipped in 12 points while Colleen Veguilla had 9 for the Sabres.

Streamwood broke the game open in the second quarter, outscoring the Maroons 23-7 to go up 34-17 at halftime. Hedger scored 8 points in the quarter.

"After we lost our lead, I felt like coming back in the second quarter, we knew we had to take things up a little," Hedger said. "It's good to know that my team and my coaches have trust in me to have those kinds of plays where I can just shoot."

With rim protector Dajha Cooper out of the lineup, Elgin came at the Sabres in waves, literally. Maroons coach Dr. Nick Bumbales used offensive and defensive platoons for most of the second half. The strategy kept Elgin in the game for awhile, but the Sabres' shooting and the Maroons' own miscues were just too much to overcome.

"Too many turnovers, too many rebounds given up, and we couldn't score," said Bumbales. "That's not a good formula. But the kids played hard. I'll give them all the credit in the world."

Emily Graves led all scorers with 17 points for Elgin (6-26). Graves made 11 of 15 free throws. Sarah Moskow added 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds for the Maroons.

The teams combined to shoot 57 free throws, with each squad making 18.

Led by Patel and Hedger, who pulled down 7 boards, the Sabres outrebounded their hosts, 39-34 and forced 27 turnovers.