South Elgin has tough opening day at D-C
Every time South Elgin looked poised to take a lead, Gabby Chapa made a shot.
The Lake Zurich senior point guard scored 10 of her 19 points in the third quarter to hold off the Storm and give the Bears a 54-47 victory at the Dundee-Crown girls basketball Thanksgiving Tournament in Carpentersville Saturday.
Chapa finished the game 9 of 13 from the floor, but was 5 of 7 in the decisive third-quarter, in which South Elgin had threatened to take a lead several times.
"They made a run at us and we needed someone to step up and make some shots," Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett said. "She's been on varsity for four years and I could see the experience step up there."
After trailing since the first quarter, South Elgin tied things up at 32-32 when Becca Smith found Sarah Havemann for a layup midway through the third period.
The tie was the first time Lake Zurich (1-1) had not held a lead since Audrey Bauer put the Bears up 9-8 with 1:57 left in the first quarter.
Bauer again came to the Bears' rescue, this time drawing a foul and sinking both free throws to put Lake Zurich up 34-32 on the Bears' next possession. Bauer finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. She finished the game going 8 of 17 from the floor.
Still, South Elgin had its chances.
The Storm shot 2 of 9 from the free-throw line in the third quarter and went just 10 of 21 in the game.
"We missed free throws and a lot of layups," Storm coach Tim Prendergast said. "Forty-eight percent from the free-throw line isn't going to get it done. The first game is always a struggle."
Lake Zurich was able to work out some of its first-game kinks from Friday's 48-44 loss to Cary-Grove in which the Bears turned the ball over 40 times.
South Elgin forced Lake Zurich 23 turnovers, led by 5 steals from Dijon Smith and 4 from Becca Smith. Becca Smith finished the game by scoring 13 of her 24 points in the second half. She also added 11 of the Storm's 21 first-half points, which allowed South Elgin to trail just 25-21 going into halftime. But the sophomore guard shot just 35.4 percent (11 of 31) from the floor in the game. South Elgin was just 29.3 percent (17 of 58) from the floor.
"(The) first game jitters," Becca Smith said of her team's shooting efforts. "We worked on our shots. Even if we did miss, we didn't go back up with it."
Lake Zurich held a 36-26 advantage on the boards. Dijon Smith did grab 7 rebounds, 5 offensive, in the second half to finish with 10. Bauer finished with 8 total boards in the second half.
McHenry 63, South Elgin 62 (OT): The Storm (0-2) fought back from a 16-point fourth quarter deficit to send the game into overtime, but could not seal the deal in the extended period as they suffered a tough 63-62 overtime loss to McHenry. Becca Smith led South Elgin with 21 points while Dijon Smith recorded 6 points in the overtime period alone and a total of 13 points on the night. Lauren Vedrine scored 6 of her 8 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Storm.