Russell's a hit in debut
Michelle Russell had every reason to smile.
Replacing legendary and Hall of Fame coach Joe Komaromy, Russell made her debut as the Dundee-Crown girls basketball coach a very successful one.
Aided by a crucial 11-0 run in the second quarter, the Chargers held off pesky Streamwood 45-42 in the opening game of the Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament held in Carpentersville on Wednesday night.
"It was nice to get the first win at home before family and friends," said Russell. "We have 8 seniors on the team and I am very happy for them. With a new management and the fact we are doing some different things I was happy with the away we played for a first game. We played well in spurts. I know we will get better as the season goes on."
Both teams were on even terms after eight minutes with the score tied at 8. The Chargers seized control of the contest in the second quarter.
D-C scored the first 11 points of the quarter while holding the Sabres without a point for 7 minutes and 19 seconds.
With Ashley Bartelt canning a long 3-pointer from deep In the left corner and Alex Lococo converting on a pair of layups the Chargers led 19-8 with 41 seconds left before intermission.
But Streamwood, which misfired on its first 12 shots of the second quarter, rallied to score the final 6 points of the half.
Emma Schmidt's putback gave the Sabres their first 2 points of The quarter and cut D-C deficit to 19-10.
Melissa Oehlerking and Kim Hotovy converted layups before the half and the Sabres were within 5, 19-14 after 16 minutes of action.
Streamwood continued to battle in the second half and grabbed its first and only lead of the game 37-36 on a 5-footer In the lane by Oehlerking with 2:40.
The Chargers grabbed the lead for good, 38-37 on 2 free throws by Megan Fasanella with 1:53 left.
"The second quarter killed us," said Streamwood coach George Rosner. "We missed 20 shots in the paint in the first half. We missed way too many easy shots.
We came back and took the lead. We were very competitive tonight. We wre going to make those shots as the season goes on and get better."