Jacobs 44, Dundee-Crown 29
It wouldn't be a going away party without a few gifts.
The Dundee-Crown administration bestowed a gift certificate, balloons and flowers upon retiring D-C girls basketball coach Joe Komaromy prior to the final home game of his 26-year career on Friday night.
The girls from rival Jacobs didn't come to the party empty-handed.
As each Golden Eagle shook hands with Komaromy during pregame introductions, she handed him a Green Bay Packers-related trinket purchased by Jacobs coach Ed Haugens who, like Komaromy, is a die-hard fan of the green and gold. The girls handed Komaromy a Packers mousepad, Packers coasters, Packers pencils, etc.
But from the opening tip onward, the Chargers were the ones in the giving mood.
Dundee-Crown committed 26 turnovers against the intense pressure defense of the Golden Eagles, miscues Jacobs used to fuel its offense in a 44-29 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory in Carpentersville, denying Komaromy his 450th career win.
The win gave the Golden Eagles sweep of the season series.
"We live off of our defense; Defense is what we want to do," said Jacobs senior Markie Rahn, who scored a team-high 16 points on her 18th birthday. "Offense is definitely a reward for us. Ball pressure is our key."
The Chargers (10-15, 3-6) actually led the game 6-5 after a quarter because Jacobs missed 14 of 16 shots in the opening period.
But the Golden Eagles (14-11, 5-4) opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run that consisted of a Rahn jump shot off an inbounds play, sophomore Katy Cook's putback of an offensive rebound, a Rahn 3-pointer and Keri Bultman's offensive rebound and layup.
"We just stepped it up and figured out what was open on offense," Bultman said. "We started getting the second and third passes to people who were open, so we started to score more."
Said Haugens: "We live and die off our defense. We like to run. If our defense doesn't go, we don't go. It's a high-risk, high-reward defense the way our kids play it and tonight we got the reward. They did a very nice job."
The Chargers trailed just 20-10 at halftime, but they didn't give themselves a chance to get back in the game in the third quarter due to 8 more turnovers, which resulted in just 5 shots taken in the period. Jacobs outscored D-C 11-2 in the quarter as a result to take a commanding 31-12 lead to the fourth quarter.
"It's like oil and water; We just don't match up well with them defensively," Komaromy said. "Offensively we don't either, and when the games gets physical like that we're just not equipped to handle it."
Despite the loss on Senior Night, starting D-C guard Kathleen Collingbourne tried to look for a silver lining.
"We've been working hard all year and have been putting the time in," Collingbourne said. "It's going to pay off sooner or later, if not now, then in regionals. This will only make us stronger."
D-C senior Robyn Staudenmaier led all scorers in her final home game with 18 points, 10 of which she scored in the fourth quarter.