South Elgin pulls away from Bartlett

A blowout loss at Bartlett last year was still fresh on the mind of South Elgin senior Teagan Pompa when the Storm returned to face their arch nemesis on Tuesday night.

Pompa exacted her own revenge with a game-high 19 points to lead to lead South Elgin to a 65-53 Upstate Eight Valley Division girls basketball win. With the victory South Elgin improves to 5-1 in the division and back into a first-place tie with West Aurora, which was upset by Glenbard East Tuesday.

"It was bad last year," Pompa said. "I've been really looking to getting back here. We came with a lot of energy. The whole team atmosphere was great. I know as a senior I wanted to win this one bad."

The Storm (14-6, 5-1) also knocked off the Hawks early in the season. It's the first time South Elgin has swept the season series against Bartlett.

"Every year this is a game we circle on the calendar when the schedule comes out," South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack said. "It's always intense but a lot of fun and tonight was no different."

The game turned into a track meet in the first half with the two teams combining to put up 65 shots in the first 16 minutes. The Storm won the race as they built a 37-28 lead by halftime. Pompa led the attack with 15 points in the first half, including three 3-pointers.

"Teagan was just doing what she does,' Mandernack said. "She banged down some 3s and other times she took the ball hard to the basket. I was a little surprised they didn't play zone on us. That allowed us to get out and run. We like that pace. So we just pushed and pushed the ball up the court and if it wasn't there we just pushed it into the post to Mackie (Kelleher)."

Kelleher chipped in with 15 points.

The Storm continued to build on the lead in the third quarter outscoring the Hawks 14-6 to extend the margin to 51-34. Bartlett could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

After going through a little rough patch when it lost back-to-back games early this month South Elgin has now won 4 in a row and 5 of its last 6.

"We were going through some injuries and got a little discombobulated," Pompa said. "But now with most everyone coming back we have been able to find a rhythm again. We are having fun and enjoying it."

Bartlett (9-16, 3-3) shot just 19 of 60 (31 percent) from the field and has now lost 6 in a row. Kayla Hare had 14 points to lead the Hawks in scoring.

"We like to play at that speed," Bartlett coach Dave Mello said. "But they just had too many weapons to keep up with. They remind a lot like us last year with a girl like Mackie inside surrounded by reliable shooters. It makes them very difficult to defend."