Balanced South Elgin thwarts Jacobs
With Becca Smith taking her talents to Loyola University of Chicago, South Elgin girls basketball coach Tim Prendergast is looking for his team this season to boast a balanced attack.
The Storm certainly adhered to that philosophy with Anna Tracy, Nell Wentling and Kara Rodriguez each netting 10 points each in a 57-36 nonconference win over Jacobs in Algonquin Tuesday night.
“With Becca gone we all have to step up and contribute,” said Rodriguez, a senior who missed last season with an ACL injury.
“We have a lot of players who can score. We want to use our defense to create offense and easy shots. We are not very big so we have to pressure teams and get turnovers.”
Forcing Jacobs (0-6) into 23 turnovers, the Storm seized control of the game late in the first quarter.
Holding a slim 11-8 lead, South Elgin ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to lead by 9, 17-8, after 8 minutes. During the pivotal run, Laura McIntosh and Julia McIntosh along with Kennede Miller scored on layups off turnovers for the Storm.
The closest Jacobs got to the Storm was 8, 41-33, after a 15 footer by Kelly Grady with 7:11 left in the fourth quarter.
South Elgin (4-2) responded by putting the game on ice with a 12-0 run to take a 53-33 advantage with 2:28 left in the game. Julia McIntosh scored 7 points, Wentling canned a 3-pointer and Rodriguez scored on a layup as the Storm put the finishing touches on its fourth win of the young season.
“We had good balance tonight, “said Prendergast. “A lot of people contributed. We had kids off the bench who played well and we played with a lot of energy. Our press was effective and we were able to get offense from our defense. We created a lot of havoc with our defense. Our goal is to keep teams under 40 if we do that we will win a lot of games. I was impressed with Jacobs. They are a scrappy well-coached team.”
Grady paced the Golden Eagles with 13 points.
“Even though we haven’t won a game the girls are playing with great effort and we are improving every game,” said first-year Jacobs coach Joe Benoit. “We have to cut down on the turnovers. Twenty-three turnovers is way too many. We have learned a lot from a great early schedule. The teams at Quincy, Fremd, Barrington, Wheeling and South Elgin are top notch teams. If we continue to get better we will be a solid team by January and February.”