Streamwood 67, Wheaton Academy 52
Streamwood senior Tem Esikiel has had plenty of big games for the Sabres boys basketball team this season.
Unfortunately, most of them have come in losing efforts.
Friday, however, Esikiel's 32 points came in a winning cause. Streamwood avenged a season-opening loss to Wheaton Academy with a 67-52 nonconference win, breaking a 12-game losing streak.
"Every game that I scored big, it didn't matter," said Esikiel, who also led the team with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. "I could have scored zero (Friday). The win means a lot."
Wheaton Academy (14-7) jumped out to a 17-12 lead early in the second quarter. The keys to the strong start were that the Warriors were in the bonus seven minutes into the game and did not turn the ball over in the first quarter.
The reason for losing that lead were also two-fold. The Warriors turned the ball over 18 times after that first quarter, and Esikiel started to get hot.
"We let Esikiel score way too often," Wheaton Academy senior center Paul Werkema said. "I think that was the biggest key. Once (the turnovers) started, we started to force it and it went downhill from there."
Down 23-18 Esikiel scored Streamwood's final 12 points of the half, part of a 14-5 run that gave the Sabres (4-18) a 32-28 lead at the break.
Wheaton Academy senior Ben Euler hit a 3-pointer in the corner to start the third quarter, but that was the end of the highlights for the Warriors.
A 15-2 run keyed by 8 points from Esikiel forced the lead to 47-33. Later in the third the Sabres rattled off a 12-0 run that stretched into the fourth quarter to make the lead 61-37. Wheaton Academy didn't score in the fourth quarter until the 2:14 mark.
The Sabres finally saw the effects of a rugged schedule in and out of the Upstate Eight Conference pay dividends against a solid team.
"We played a lot of good teams," Streamwood coach Tim Jones said. "You know you're going to get it handed to you a few times, but this is a good basketball team. I thought we played extremely hard. We have a great group of kids, and they play hard, but we just haven't been able to put it together in a game until tonight."
Boys basketball
Burlington Central 47, North Boone 33:ŒThe Rockets took another step toward their second straight Big Northern Conference Eastern Division title with this road victory. Senior guard Mike McCurdy connected for three 3-pointers en route to a 17-point night for Central (17-6, 7-1), which also received 3-pointers from seniors Jake McNutt (3) and Jason Wagner (2).
Westminster Christian 49, Mooseheart 45:ŒThe Warriors held off the visiting Ramblers for a nonconference victory in Elgin. Tyler Beachler paced Westminster Christian (17-6), with 18 points while senior Cory Hodge contributed 17 points and Joel Benson 12.
Morgan Park Academy 86, Elgin Academy 48:ŒThe Hilltoppers fell to 2-18 overall and remained winless (0-11) within the Independent School League with this road defeat.
Girls basketball
Bartlett 80, Elgin 37: Several weeks ago, there was doubt that Bartlett's lone returning player from the 2006-07 roster and lone senior, Katie Koster, would see any time on the court after sustaining a potential season-ending injury.
But Koster battled back.
Having played in more than a dozen games this year, it became evident Friday night that she wanted to be remembered at Bartlett.
Koster racked up 12 points, 7 assists, 5 steals and 4 rebounds to help the Hawks defeat Elgin 80-37 in Upstate Eight Conference play for her final regular-season appearance on the Bartlett court.
"Tonight was intense," said Koster, who celebrated Senior Night with no teammates, but rather two team managers.
"The fact that we came together as a team and played so well for my last regular-season home game was just awesome."
Bartlett jumped on top of Elgin early behind a 14-4 offensive run while containing Elgin's counter efforts.
"Defending their guard penetration was key in this game," said Hawks coach Denise Sarna. "It was nice to get up early as a result of that."
Unable to get inside, Elgin (1-24, 1-10) relied on outside shooting from guards Brandi Hernandez (9 points, 4 assists) and Caris Alan (8 points, 6 rebounds) early.
Bartlett had no trouble creating opportunities underneath.
With 19 points and 8 rebounds, 6-foot forward Jacki Gulczynski led all scorers. Christina Carlson added 10 points and 6 boards.
"A lack of defense cost us tonight," said Elgin coach Angie Hudson. "We had no defensive effort. We got into foul trouble early which caused a lot of problems."
Foul trouble landed center Ellen Holton (6 points) on the bench for a good part of the first half, but Kiersten Swartz helped fill the void leading the Maroon offense with 10 points.
"We lacked hustle," said Hudson. "Bartlett beat us up and down the court all night."
Samantha Salinas capitalized on that lack of hustle late in the game coming off the bench to score the first 8 points of the fourth quarter for Bartlett (9-18, 5-5). Salinas finished with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. Alexa Tovella and Nicolette Gutzwiller each added 7 points.
It was certainly a game that Koster won't soon forget.
"I will miss the crowds, our fans and my teammates," said Koster. "Every year that I have been here, my teammates have been amazing."
-- Jen LaPorte
Huntley 59, Grayslake Central 36: The Huntley Red Raiders were able to get contributions from everyone to defeat the Grayslake Central Rams 59-36 on Senior Night in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division in Huntley. Neither team took very good care of the basketball with each team committing 29 turnovers in the game, but Huntley took an early lead in the first quarter and was able to build on it.
"(The win) means a lot to us because this was our last time to play in front of our families and friends on our home floor," said Huntley senior guard Shannon Callahan. "It got a little sloppy at one point, but we pulled together as a team."
Huntley (17-9, 7-2) trailed Grayslake Central 6-4 to start the game, but went on a 10-3 run to end the opening quarter. The Red Raiders carried that momentum into the second quarter and went up 27-11 at the 4:24 mark behind Callahan, who scored 8 of her 10 points in the quarter.
The Rams (7-17, 4-6) fought their way back to a 9-point deficit with Katelyn Putkonen's 3-point field goal as time expired in the first half.
"We had a 16-point lead at one point (in the first half) and they finished off with a 7-0 run to finish the second quarter out," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "I thought defensively we tightened things up and made some adjustments, and offensively we did I nice job extending our lead,"
Huntley senior Daisy Jara dominated the third quarter scoring 9 of her 11 points and owned the boards. Jara ended the night with a game-high 10 rebounds.
"We knew we had to step up, because we didn't want to let them back in the game. We came out and knew the first couple minutes (in the third quarter) were key, so we just kept going at it," said Jara. "I was getting frustrated in the first half because I wasn't getting (the ball) that much. I was just trying to post up as much as possible (in the third quarter) and score.
Jara's big third quarter performance helped extend the Red Raiders lead to 47-26 to put the game out of reach.
"We got sloppy and (Huntley) plays good defense, so give them credit too. I don't know if it was the long bus ride or the tough game we had last night," said Rams' coach Roger Lass. "That's no excuse. We just turned the ball over too many times and they got a lot of easy baskets. The nine-point lead got up to twenty in a hurry though."
Freshman Kadie Lowery led all scorers with 12 points for Huntley and Putkonen had a team-high 9 points for the Rams.
Crystal Lake South 46, McHenry 30:ŒThe Gators earned a Valley Division road win with a balanced offensive attack. Katie Burton led CL South (20-7, 8-2) with 11 points while Carly Juliano and Caitlin Mize contributed 10 points apiece.
Larkin 54, Streamwood 42:ŒThe Royals (5-20, 3-7) made it two straight with this road win in the Upstate Eight Conference. Senior guard Alyssa Burns scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter and senior forward Sophie Sterricker scored 13 points, 6 in the final period.
Point guard Ryanne Mark scored 11 points to pace Streawood (4-22, 1-9) and Caitlin Marchant added 10 points.
Marengo 52, Burlington Central 38:ŒCory Bazany's 16 points weren't enough to lift the Rockets (17-10, 6-3) in a Big Northern-East loss on Rocket Hill. Junior guard Hallisey Kunde scored 16 points to lead Marengo (13-14, 6-4).