South Elgin notches first win

Getting a home game during the Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament certainly was beneficial for the South Elgin girls basketball team.

The Storm was unbeaten on its home floor last season and continued that streak Monday night in its first home game by beating Hononegah, 57-48.

"We really wanted to get a win coming out 0-2 of the tournament (on Saturday)," said South Elgin senior Dijon Smith, who finished iwth 20 points and 15 rebounds. "Being undefeated at home last year, we just really wanted to keep that streak going this year."

Early on Monday it appeared that the Storm's home dominance wouldn't continue. The Indians jumped out to a 14-4 lead midway through the first quarter thanks to hitting four of six 3-point attempts.

South Elgin (1-2) cut the deficit to 17-14 by scoring the final 6 points of the first quarter.

"They got off to a fast start," Storm coach Tim Prendergast said. "I knew coming in that they were a 3-point shooting team. We were in a zone to start off with and we had to scrap that right away."

Sarah Havemann, Becca Smith and Dijon Smith combined for 13 points in the second quarter as the storm continued to chip away at the Indians' lead, which was down to 2, 31-29, at the break.

Havemann's jumper a minute into the second half tied the game at 31-31. Hononegah responded with an 8-0 run, including hitting two more 3-pointers, to take a 39-31 lead. After Becca Smith hit a pair of free throws, the Indians' Elizabeth Jordan hit her third 3-pointer of the game to give Hononegah a 42-33 advantage.

The Storm trailed 44-39 entering the fourth. Becca Smith hit a pair of jumpers and Dijon Smith had an offensive putback with 6:20 left to give South Elgin its first lead of the game 45-44. Erin Ryczek, who finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, nailed a pair of free throws with 5:47 remaining to give the Indians the lead again, 46-45. That would be Hononegah's last lead as Dijon Smith and Alyssa Krause scored the next 12 points as the Storm took a 57-46 lead to put the game away.

"Our man-to-man defense was what won the game," Prendergast said. "We were trailing the whole game, but the kids never let the game get out of their sight.

Becca Smith fished with 18 points and Havemann added 7 for the Storm.

Lindsay Carroll led the Indians with 18 points, including hitting four 3-pointers.