Elgin Academy wins regional opener
Bridget Keslinke scored 11 points and Susanna Cain added 9 Monday night as Elgin Academy defeated Islamic Foundation of Villa Park 43-24 in the opening round of the Class 1A girls basketball regional at Mooseheart.
The Hilltoppers (4-18) will take on the state's No. 2 ranked team in Hinckley-Big Rock in Wednesday's semifinals.
Katlynn Ward and San Siddiqui added 8 points each in Monday's win.
"It was a nice win," said EA coach Greg Repede. "It's the best we've executed all season."
Huntley 47, McHenry 44: Kadie Lowery scored 14 points and had 4 rebounds and CeCe Tsevas added 12 points to lead the Red Raiders (17-7, 8-2) to a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win on the road. The win wrapped up second place in the division for Huntley, which hosts its own Class 4A regional next week. Rachel Chapius added 9 points and 5 rebounds for the Raiders.
Jacobs 43, Belvidere 29: Mel Schwerdtmann scored 16 points to lead the Golden Eagles (4-22) to a nonconference win at home. Lauren Grady added 7 points for Jacobs, while Amy Becker and Payton Berg had 6 each.
Geneva 83, Elgin 22: Briana Hamilton had 10 points to lead Elgin (0-24, 0-10) in this Upstate Eight River loss.
St. Charles North 50, Batavia 37: Sydney Russell and Leah Horton delivered the key sequence, the twin backbreakers that enabled host St. Charles North to turn back Batavia for the second time this girls basketball season.
The two seniors, honored before the rescheduled Upstate Eight Conference River Division clash Monday night in St. Charles, had back-to-back 3-point plays with under three minutes to play in the third quarter.
Batavia, which had drawn within 3 points early in the quarter, never recovered from the North Stars' first double-digit lead of the game.
St. Charles North limited cold-shooting Batavia to 7 points over the final 14 minutes and 37 seconds of action to sweep the season series 50-37.
"We have been looking forward to this game since freshman year," said Horton, who scored a team-high 14 points to go along with 8 rebounds. "We decided during halftime the seniors in particular that this was going to be our last (regular-season) home game. Scoring makes points, but defense wins basketball games."
For the night St. Charles North (13-12, 7-3) held Batavia to 30 percent shooting (16-for-53) from the floor.
Kevin McGavin
John Radtke contributed to this report