Hare hits for 39 as Bartlett dumps South Elgin

Trailing 45-40 at halftime, the South Elgin girls basketball team planned a third quarter push to finally overtake Bartlett.

However, Bartlett turned the tables at the start of second half and broke the game wide open on its way to a 77-56 win Thursday night.

The Hawks opened the frame with a 10-3 run during the first three minutes to widen their lead to 12 points. Bartlett dominated the rest of the period and took a 65-49 lead to start the fourth quarter.

"We felt good at halftime. We were only down by five. We are right in the game and we are breaking their press," said South Elgin coach. Dan Mandernack. "We always stress that first three minutes of the second half are huge. If we come out good, we may be have 2-3 point lead.

"It was the first time all year, that we didn't throw that punch after halftime," Mandernack said. "We turned the ball over the first three times we touched it."

Junior Mackenzie Hare was an integral part of the third quarter surge, scoring 10 of her game-high 39 points in the frame.

"We threw every defense that we knew at her and it really didn't matter," said Mandernack. "She just really came through. That in essence was the game, the first three minutes of the third quarter because they were able to get separation from that five-point lead."

Both teams struggled in the first half. The Hawks had a hard time getting their shots to drop and the Storm was plagued by turnovers.

"It definitely felt like a close game than we actually ended up winning by a lot," Bartlett coach Kristi Ragan said. "Initially our shots weren't falling like we wanted them to but ultimately it's the adjustments we made at halftime defensively that turned the game around. We also kept shooting because we have that confidence in ourselves."

South Elgin (2-3, 1-0) pulled within 2 points, 24-22, late in the first quarter on a Raina Yang (11 points) layup. Zoie Lewis' basket (15 points) on an inbounds play early in the second quarter pulled the Storm to within 31-30. Both times, Bartlett (3-2, 3-0) responded with a Hare 3-pointer. Twenty-one of Hare's points came from treys.

Senior Kylie Walker's 13 rebounds also kept the Hawks in the game.

"That's the main thing that I do," Walker said. "I wasn't worried about our shooting. We are a patient team. We stayed calm and finally got the shots."

Alexis Sinclair chipped in 11 points for the Hawks. Caroline Croft scored 20 points for the Storm.