South Elgin runs win streak to 6

A six-game winning streak is a good reason for a basketball team to be happy.

South Elgin is having a lot of fun after beating Metea Valley, 52-29, on Thursday night in Upstate Eight Valley Division girls action at South Elgin.

“Our goal is kind of just have fun and work together as a team,” Storm senior Anna Tracy said. “When we do that we seem to collaborate a lot more and work together better.”

The biggest difference for the Storm (14-6, 6-1) during the win streak has been the defense. Thursday was the second consecutive game South Elgin allowed 30 points or less. The streak started with a 56-32 victory over Proviso West. St. Edward scored the most points against the Storm in the last six games in a 62-48 South Elgin win.

Metea Valley (10-12, 2-6) had 9 turnovers in the first half and scored just 10 points. The Mustangs, who have lost six straight games, shot 23 percent (11 of 47).

“I thought we did a decent job defensively in the first half. When you can hold a team to 10 points, I’ll go with that,” South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast said. “We’re really working on defense getting into the end of the season and regionals. We’re peaking at the right time.”

The Storm, which will host U-46 rival Bartlett on Saturday, scored the first 12 points of the game as Kennede Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers, Tracy added a 3-pointer and Mackie Kelleher had an old-fashioned 3-point play in the opening 2:39.

“We left their shooters open and let them shot a lot of threes,” Metea Valley coach Kris Kalivas said. “It was a lack of execution, lack of energy.”

The Mustangs got within 7, 12-5, but South Elgin scored the final 5 points of the first quarter to increase the lead back into double figures. The lead never fell below 11 the rest of the game.

Miller led all scorers with 14 points and also had 6 rebounds. Savanah Uveges added 9 points and 6 rebounds.

Taseandra Parker led Metea Valley with 9 points. Katie Lawrence added 6 points and 10 rebounds.