Elgin tops Harper

With leading scorer Monica Hinderer off the next phase of her playing career at Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin, the question for the Harper College women's basketball team is who will fill her shoes.

That role, at least for a night, fell to Olivet Nazarene transfer Joslyn Nicholson. Despite being in foul trouble for most of the evening, the Cary-Grove alum finished with 21 points.

It wasn't quite enough on Tuesday, as visiting Elgin Community College came away with a 53-43 victory.

"We want to establish the game inside," said second-year Harper coach Jenny Turpel.

"Sometimes I have to take a leadership role" Nicholson said. "I was trying to get as many different looks as I could."

The Hawks got a pair of free throws from Kim Herzog (Buffalo Grove) and a 3-point bucket from Lane Winkler (Rolling Meadows) to take a 24-21 halftime advantage.

"We came out a little flat in the first half," said Elgin sophmore Porshe Griggs.

In the second half, the Hawks scored 8 of the first 13 points in the half. But with 7:05 left, Elgin had regained a 37-35 lead and went on to outscore Harper 16-8 in the game's final minutes.

The combination of Griggs (Westminster Christian) and Jen Dumoulin (Hampshire) were a big key to ECC's success. Griggs finished with a team-high high 15 points, while Dumoulin scored 10.

"We have to finish stronger," said Turpel. "That was our game, we just gave it away."