Amazing comeback falls just short for South Elgin
Every heart in the Oswego East gym beat quicker with each South Elgin made basket.
Once trailing by 27 points in the third quarter, the South Elgin girls basketball team rallied from a 49-16 deficit to pull within 63-61 of the host Wolves on Alyssa Krause's putback basket with 27.9 seconds left in the game.
The Wolves reacted by dribbling the ball out of bounds against the Storm full-court press, which gave South Elgin a chance to tie or take the lead with 13.3 seconds left.
The ball came to Storm sophomore Becca Smith - who helped engineer the comeback by scoring 17 of her team-high 21 points in the second half - but her 3-point attempt with 10 seconds to play didn't fall.
The Wolves gained possession after a scramble and junior Brittney Glende sank 2 free throws with 7 seconds left to finally seal a 65-61 victory for Oswego East in the third-place game of the Oswego East Winter Classic Tournament on Wednesday.
Though South Elgin (6-9) fell short of victory, the team finished the tournament on a positive note considering the hole it had dug for itself with a lackluster first half. The Storm turned the ball over 13 times in the first two quarters and shot 7 of 30 from the field.
"I'll tell you what, I've been coaching for 17 years and at the half I was probably as upset as I've ever been," South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast said. "I thought we were not playing hard, we were getting beat to the basket. I called everybody out and said, 'We're probably not going to win this game, but we sure as (heck) better come out in the second half and play hard, I mean really hard.'
"(In the second half) we played hard, inspired basketball and did the things we wanted to do offensively. We were about a quarter of an inch short of that three going in from winning this game. I thought that was good from my point (of view), so I'm happy."
Oswego East (12-4) was the aggressor throughout the first half, when the Wolves shot 16 of 35, mainly by driving to the basket from various angles. All-tournament pick Jourdan Jackson scored 14 of her season-high 30 points in the first half and senior Marissa Craft sliced through the lane to notch the fourth of her 4 straight baskets with 3:41 left in the second quarter to put Oswego East ahead 31-14.
South Elgin opened the third quarter with renewed vigor after Prendergast cleared the air at halftime,
"He basically said we weren't going to win and he's never been so embarrassed or seen a team play like that in three years here," South Elgin senior Dijon Smith said. "Our starters talked to each other and really wanted to win this. We just put our heads together and played the really good defense we were lacking in the first half."
The pressing Storm used 10 Wolves turnovers to fuel their second-half push, and sophomore reserve guard Lania Robinson (11 points) sank 5-of-5 attempts in the third quarter to ignite the offense. Then Becca Smith got into the flow, spinning and driving for 6 second-half baskets and dishing to Dijon Smith (11 points) for 4 buckets in the fourth quarter.
"Becca Smith is a phenomenal basketball player and she kind of put the game on our shoulders," Oswego East coach Nate Eimer said.
"It was a matter of pride," said Becca Smith, who was also named all-tournament. "I mean, our families were here. The crowd just really got us pumped up."
The Storm outscored the Wolves 20-15 in the third quarter and 25-12 in the fourth, but the early hole proved to deep to dig out of in the end.
"At this point we've become a better team and we'll start from here," Prendergast said. "If we can get that effort from them each and every game, we'll be OK."