Neuqua Valley 45, Elgin 19

The Neuqua Valley girls basketball team got an important victory and the psychological boost it needed on Monday.

The Wildcats closed out their home schedule with a 45-19 win over a smaller and less experienced Elgin team on Senior Night to put themselves in position to finish what has been a disappointing season with a .500-plus record.

"Because it was Senior Night there was a fun attitude approaching the game," said Neuqua's Beth Goldberg. "It loosened us up. Now it's like we're starting fresh. We put last week's Bolingbrook loss behind us and came out as practically a new team. We've made up our minds not to be the first Neuqua team to finish with a losing record."

The Wildcats play Upstate Eight Conference road games at Larkin tonight and at Lake Park on Thursday to finish the regular season.

For the first time this season, the Wildcats (12-13, 4-4) went with a man-to-man defense that coach Mike Williams said was designed to get the team focused earlier in the game.

Still, it took a Goldberg 3-pointer in the final minute of the first quarter to put the Wildcats ahead 9-6 at the end of the period.

The second quarter was different as Neuqua outscored the Maroons 13-1 to take a commanding 22-7 lead into the break.

"We had a lot of communication on the court," said Neuqua forward Viv Kindt. "We were shocked when the coach told us about the man-to-man, but I think the talking on defense helped us. We played with more teamwork and that was the key to the game. This is going to help us overcome that confidence barrier going into the state tournament."

Kindt and Goldberg, two of the team's five seniors, all of whom started the game, shared the scoring lead with 10 points apiece.

"We finally got into our rhythm and blew it open in the second quarter," said Williams. "Our size advantage was a big difference, but we were relaxed tonight and maybe that's what we needed. The win puts us in a position to salvage a .500 season."

In addition to her double-figures scoring, Goldberg came up with 7 steals and shared the rebounding lead with freshman McKenzie Hughes with 7. Senior Katie Medvec blocked 3 shots.

The Maroons (1-22, 1-8), led by point guard Brandi Hernandez, did a good job of bringing the ball up against the Neuqua press, but had a hard time coping with the man-to-man half-court defense that caused numerous turnovers.

"We get a little hesitant with the ball," said Elgin coach Angie Hudson. "It's like a hot potato with us sometimes. We get the ball up to the front-court and then panic when we get there. We have a lot of young kids going through growing pains and we're learning. It's been like this all year."

Junior center Ellen Holton, who was back in the Maroons lineup after being sidelined for six weeks, led the team with 9 points 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.