Cary-Grove holds off Streamwood in OT
Even after convincingly beating Streamwood by 19 and 17 points earlier in the season, Cary-Grove girls basketball coach Rod Saffert knew his troops would be in for a tough tussle with the much improved Sabres in Thursday's Class 4A Cary-Grove regional title game.
Saffert was right.
The Trojans needed overtime to exit the pesky Sabres.
Top-seeded Cary-Grove outscored second-seeded Streamwood 8-4 in the extra session to claim the regional crown 53-49. The regional title is the 15th for Cary-Grove and second in the last three years.
The Trojans (26-3) will play Geneva (29-0) in the first semifinal of the Huntley sectional Monday at 6 p.m. Geneva defeated host St Charles North 47-45 Thursday.
"Streamwood was playing very well and was a much improved team from when we played them earlier in the season," said Saffert. "I was totally impressed with the way (Streamwood coach) George (Rosner) had his team ready to play. They did a great job of switching defenses and we had trouble at times getting our offense going. But, the kids found a way in the overtime to get the win.
"It is great to win a regional at home."
After a sloppy first half in which Cary-Grove led the Sabres (14-17) 19-16 after 16 minutes, Streamwood caught fire in the third quarter. Converting 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range, Streamwood outscored the Trojans 20-13 and led 36-32 heading into the final quarter.
Freshman Jessica Cerda had two 3-pointers and senior Melissa Oehlerking had 5 points including a 3 as Streamwood turned a 3-point halftime deficit into a 4-point lead after 24 minutes.
The Trojans battled back and eventually tied the game at 43 on a free throw by Olivia Jakubicek with a minute left. She followed with a layup with 45 seconds left to give Cary-Grove a 45-43 lead. Streamwood wouldn't be denied as Cerda calmly sank 2 free throws with 30 seconds left to send the game into an extra session.
The Sabres could have iced the win in the fourth quarter, but made only 5-of-12 free throws and committed 8 turnovers.
"I felt very confident in the fourth quarter we were going to win the ballgame," said Rosner. "The free throws and turnovers killed us. The girls gave a great effort. It is a shame we lost."
In the overtime, the Trojans took the lead for good 49-48 when Liz Bart made 2 free throws with 46 seconds left. A putback by Olivia Jakubicek and another free throw by Bart sealed the win for Trojans.
Claire Jakubicek led Cary-Grove with 19 points and 9 boards while sister Olivia tallied 15 with 8 rebounds. Bart scored 10 with 4 assists.
"It was a tough, tough physical game," said Bart. "Streamwood is so much better than we played them earlier in the year. They did a great job of switching defenses. But we found a way to win. As seniors, we didn't want to play our last game at home."
Emma Schmidt led Streamwood with 12 points. Michelle Tomczak added 11 with 14 rebounds.
Boys basketballWestminster Christian 79, IMSA 32: Ian Dutcher scored 18 points to lead the Warriors (19-8) to an easy nonconference win.Women's basketballECC 49, Oakton 44: Lauren Gabler had 22 points and Sophie Sterricker 18 to lead ECC (20-10, 10-4) to an ISCC win.