Bartlett rolls; South Elgin's Smith goes down with knee injury

The Bartlett girls basketball team would be hard-pressed to play much better than it did in the first half Tuesday night against South Elgin.

Maybe it was the fact the Hawks were well aware South Elgin had won 8 of 9, including an upset over Waubonsie Valley on Saturday.

Or maybe it was because the Hawks see the stretch run of the season coming up and they have lofty goals.

Then again, as Bartlett's coaching staff agreed, maybe it was simply the execution of a game plan.

Whatever it was, the Hawks rolled out to a 48-25 halftime lead and cruised to an 80-40 win over the Storm in an Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division matchup at Bartlett that saw South Elgin junior standout Becca Smith go down with a knee injury just before the end of the first half and not return.

"They were hitting on all cylinders," credited South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast. "We didn't play well and they played very well. That team could go downstate. They have all the components."

One of those components set the tone of the game early yet again. Junior point guard Janessa Baker, at 5-foot-6 Bartlett's smallest starter, came up big by canning two 3-pointers and scoring all 8 of her points in the first quarter as the Hawks (21-1, 8-0) had a WNBA-like first 8 minutes, busting out to a 27-12 lead.

"We came out with high energy tonight; we were pumped," said Baker. "They're our rival."

Baker isn't Bartlett's leading scorer, nor does she go into games thinking about setting the tone, but she has done so multiple times this season.

"It just kind of happens," she said. "I'm just open and I've been hitting them. It gets everyone else started."

With Baker Fuel igniting the engine, the Hawks rolled. They hit 16 of 29 shots in the first half and 31 of 57 for the game, with their reserves going 7-for-12 in the fourth quarter. They also outrebounded the Storm (10-9, 3-4) by a whopping 44-26.

"We came in and practiced (Monday) and I thought the kids did a great job of executing the game plan," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna, with assistant Brad Hunt nodding in agreement. "Janessa came out and popped those 3s and that was a nice way to start the game.

"They were hot," Sarna said of the Storm. "I asked Tim and (South Elgin assistant) John (Uveges) before the game if they'd go out and warm my car up. They were hot, and we respect all the teams in our conference. We came out and did a good job."

Kristin Conniff led the Hawks with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals, while Haley Videckis added 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals and Jack Gulczynski 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

Kelsey Prince had 9 points to lead South Elgin and Smith added 8 before exiting and spending the second half on the bench with an ice wrap around her left knee. Just before the end of the first half, while bringing the ball upcourt, her knee twisted and she went to the floor in obvious agony. After several minutes she was helped off the floor and was noticeably limping after the game.

"We just have to hope Becca's OK," said Prendergast, who said he's hoping it's just a sprain. "We'll just have to take it day-to-day for now."

Prendergast wasn't ready to cash it in despite the big loss, knowing full well his team lost by 40 to Waubonsie the first time around before coming back to pull off Saturday's upset.

"I don't think (Bartlett) is a 40-point better team than us," he said. "We took a step back tonight but we're OK. We're a young team. We played so well Saturday and over the last three weeks but we knew tonight would be a challenge because they give us such matchup issues. It was a tough one but we'll be OK."