Big second half lifts Bartlett to 20th win
The Bartlett girls basketball team took Neuqua Valley's best shot in the first half of Saturday's Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division game at Bartlett.
Then the Hawks delivered their own.
Leading just 29-24 at the break, No. 3 Bartlett left its first-half mistakes in the locker room and outscored the No. 10 Wildcats 43-18 in the second half to run away with a 72-42 win on a pomp and circumstance afternoon that included Bartlett's second annual Kay Yow Cancer Fund event as well as an appearance by Sky Guy, the Chicago Sky's exceptionally active mascot.
The victory is Bartlett's 20th of the season against one loss. But more important to the Hawks, they are now 7-0 in the UEC Valley and 2 games up in the loss column after South Elgin's 64-49 upset of No. 5 Waubonsie Valley Saturday. Bartlett still has two games with South Elgin as well as trips to Neuqua and Waubonsie.
"Sometimes we just play so relaxed that we make unnecessary mistakes," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna, whose team turned the ball over 14 times in the first half Saturday. "In the second half we did a much better job of taking care of the ball."
The Hawks did a lot of things better in the second half. They were 16 of 27 shooting in the final 16 minutes, only turned the ball over eight times and outrebounded the Wildcats 17-11.
Senior Christina Carlson ignited Bartlett's second half surge, scoring 9 of her 15 points in the third quarter as the Hawks used a 9-0 run to start the second half as the catalyst to a 38-24 lead that Neuqua Valley (14-4, 5-2) could never overcome. By the end of the third quarter Bartlett led 51-33, after Haley Videckis grabbed a loose ball and buried a long 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer.
"We picked it up in the second half," said the San Jose State-bound Carlson, who also had 9 rebounds. "We knew (Neuqua) was a good team and we just had to pick it up."
Jacki Gulczynski added 14 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists for the Hawks and Kristin Conniff had 12 points.
Neuqua could have been in a much better position at halftime had the Wildcats not gone 0-for-10 from the free-throw line in the first two quarters. They were just 4 of 18 from the line for the game.
"You can't do that against great teams," said Wildcats coach Mike Williams. "But the win or the loss doesn't define this team as much as the effort. Bartlett is a seasoned team and they came out and laid it on the line in the third quarter. But we're in good shape. How we respond will be the question."
Junior Megan Doody led the Wildcats with 12 points, hitting four 3-pointers in the first half.
"We've got a lot of freshmen on our team so just being able to play with (Bartlett) for the first two quarters is an accomplishment," Doody said. "They're a great team, the best team we've played so far."