Streamwood (8-0) dumps St. Charles North
Yes, girls basketball fans, that is Streamwood you see and Streamwood alone at the top of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division standings this morning.
The Sabres served notice Thursday night that they have every intention of challenging for a conference championship this season, defeating St. Charles North 43-33 in Streamwood.
But are the Sabres, now 8-0 overall, feeling any early-season pressure as perhaps their best season in over 20 years unfolds?
"I'd say we're feeling more confident and not feeling any pressure," said Streamwood coach George Rosner, whose team will hit the road tonight for a River matchup with St. Charles East, then play at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the Mundelein tournament against 7-1 Conant.
"We take these games one at a time and there's no looking at anything beyond the next game."
Thursday's win was due in large part to a stellar defensive effort by the Sabres on a night where both teams had their struggles offensively.
After an ice-cold first quarter SCN was 1-for-18 and Streamwood 2-for-9 ended with the Sabres (8-0, 3-0) leading 6-3, Streamwood turned up both the offense and the defense in the second quarter.
By halftime the North Stars (4-4, 2-1) had 12 of their 25 turnovers in the game and they finished the half shooting just 3-for-31 as Streamwood grabbed a 24-7 lead at the break.
"Our defense in the first quarter kept us in the game because we weren't shooting very well," said Rosner. "That's as well as we've played defense in a long time and the second quarter was built off the first quarter."
The Sabres also had to manage some offense without the services of leading scorer Emma Schmidt, who missed a large part of the first half in foul trouble.
"Whenever one of our best players is down her teammates have to pick her up and score the points," said 6-foot-3 Sabres' senior Michelle Tomczak, who had a game-high 13 points as well as 6 blocked shots. "It was a team effort all the way."
Just the way Rosner likes it.
"We got the running game going, we found Michelle and pounded it inside and Jessica Cerda hit a couple 3-pointers to open the floor up," he said.
"And Megan McGlone came off the bench and was really big for us tonight offensively and defensively.
"I saw that Michelle wanted to score tonight. She got some nice passes and she wanted the ball. She knew she had a size advantage."
The North Stars played a better second half but they could never make a serious run out of the hole they dug in the first 16 minutes. In fact, the closest the game got in the second half was the final score.
"We need to work on making some better and quicker decisions on offense," said SCN coach Colleen Brennan. "They came out stronger in the second half. (Streamwood) worked hard and played well. They're well-coached and they're a tough ballclub.
"Our last couple games haven't been consistent but I know we'll moved forward and figure it out. They're great kids."
Cerda added 10 points for the Sabres, who finished the night shooting 16-for-45. Senior Katie Booe had 12 points to lead the North Stars and sophomore Alex Silverman came off the bench to score 10, all in the fourth quarter.
And now the Sabres look for No. 9 in a row.
"It's very exciting," Tomczak said of being 8-0. "But we take it one game at a time. Today's goal was to be 8-0. Tomorrow it's 9-0."