No stopping Bartlett's Sinclair and Hare

Streamwood girls basketball coach George Rosner has seen enough of Bartlett's Lexie Sinclair and Kenzie Hare over the past few seasons.

Sinclair (St. Bonaventure) and Hare (St. Louis), the Hawks' two Division I recruits, combined for 48 points and 15 steals to lead Bartlett (2-2, 2-0) to a convincing 66-22 Upstate Eight Conference victory over the Sabres (1-1, 1-1) Tuesday night in Bartlett.

Hare, who finished with a game-high 32 points, 7 rebounds and 8 steals, poured in 23 of her team's 35 points during the middle two quarters when the Hawks outscored the visiting Sabres, 35-16.

Playing the passing lanes, Hare and Sinclair (7 steals) seemed a half-step ahead of the Sabres from the outset, as the tandem combined for 21 points and 8 steals during the Hawks' 26-4 first-quarter surge.

"We work on a lot of press and transition in practice," said Hare, who added four 3-pointers in less than 3 quarters of playing time. "Learning how to read the ball has been huge for us so it's nice to let it show out there."

Streamwood, which trailed 61-20 after 3 quarters, was paced by junior guard Sariah Dixon's 10 points and 6 rebounds.

"They're a great duo," Rosner said of Hare and Sinclair. "They play well together and they're getting better. They're tough. They were picking passes off.

"Any mistakes that we made, they took advantage of them."

Senior guard Trinity Reyes added 8 points for the Hawks, who began their season with a rugged stretch that included games against Geneva, Glenbard South and Naperville North.

"We've played three stud teams - maybe three of our toughest games right off the bat," said Hawks coach Kristi Ragan. "Those games obviously prepared us to come back to our home gym and start more of our conference schedule."

Since U-46 schools were officially closed Tuesday due to Monday night's snowstorm, the Streamwood-Bartlett game was in doubt earlier in the day.

"We didn't even think we were going to play today because after-school activities were originally canceled but we were able to make it work for the varsity game," said Ragan.

Bartlett visits South Elgin Thursday before returning home for games against Elgin and Neuqua Valley on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

"Three games in a row so we're looking to go 3-0," said Hare. "It's going to be nice competition and we're looking forward to it."

Sayuri Ishikawa added 7 points and 6 rebounds for Streamwood.

"We've got to learn from a game like this," said Rosner. "If we don't, then the short season will be a long season."