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Neuqua Valley downs South Elgin

Neuqua Valley’s undefeated girls basketball team weathered a storm Friday night. A South Elgin Storm, that is.

Host South Elgin led the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division game by as many as 12 points early before Neuqua Valley charged back and took as much as a 17-point lead of its own. The Wildcats then held on down the stretch to come away with a 57-49 win.

“When you have a team that is as young as ours you have to weather the storm sometimes,” said Wildcats coach Mike Williams, who has six freshmen on his roster. “And when you’re 5-0 you have to expect teams are going to come at you. We talked about the challenge of stepping up to face the adversity.”

And that Neuqua Valley (6-0, 2-0) did. Trailing 22-10 early in the second quarter, the Wildcats went on a 16-3 run to close out the first half with a 26-25 lead. They were able to do much of their damage when South Elgin junior standout Becca Smith had to go to the bench with her third foul with 5:08 left in the half.

“It helps when Becca Smith has three fouls,” deadpanned Williams.

The Wildcats then used a mix of their talented youth and the leadership of senior Alexa Wilde and junior Megan Doody to own the third quarter and take a 45-28 lead into the final period. It didn’t hurt that Smith picked up her fourth foul just 11 seconds into the second half and sat out most of the Wildcats’ run.

“We definitely didn’t come out with the same intensity we’ve had the last few games,” said Doody, who led all scorers with 23 points, including 8 in the third quarter. “The first quarter wasn’t Neuqua Valley basketball and we needed to step it up. In the second quarter we had as much intensity as possible, we made a couple runs and we got back into the game.”

But South Elgin (1-5, 0-2) wasn’t about to go away quietly. With Smith playing cautiously on defense but contributing on offense, the Storm went on a 15-2 run to open the fourth quarter and close to within 47-43 after an Amanda Behles basket with 2:53 left in the game. That was as close as South Elgin would get, though, as the Wildcats used 5 of 7 free-throw shooting from Doody down the stretch to hold off the Storm.

“You have to count on your leadership and even though Megan didn’t start out real well she’s a great leader and she adjusted,” Williams said.

Wilde added 11 points, 9 rebounds and 5 steals for the Wildcats, who also got 8 points and 7 rebounds from freshman Malia Smith.

“(The upperclassmen) have to make the freshmen feel comfortable and do what we can to keep them calm,” Doody said. “They just have to have fun and realize it’s a sport we all love to play.”

Becca Smith and freshman Samantha Uvegas led South Elgin with 14 points each. Senior Deandra Anderson added 8.

“That’s the second game in a row we got off to a really good start but foul trouble hurt us tonight,” said South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast. “We struggled offensively in the third quarter but it hurts when your two or three best players are on the bench.”

And even though his team is 1-5, Prendergast remains optimistic.

“We’re 1-5 but I feel really good about our team,” he said. “There’s so much energy and enthusiasm out there and I feel like we’re improving every game and getting better. Some of our younger players are really playing well. Samantha Uvegas played real well tonight and she’s just a freshman.”