South Elgin handles Aurora Central Catholic
South Elgin senior Becca Smith admitted there might be some tired legs playing a third game in three days Thursday night after a 12-day break between game action.
The fatigue didn’t show, though, as the Storm jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and cruised to a 66-43 victory over Aurora Central Catholic in the semifinals of the Oswego East Winter Classic.
“We’re definitely going to rest up when we get home and take it easy (Friday) before the game,” Smith said. “I think we’ll be a little tired, but I think we’ll be able to pull it out.”
The Storm (11-4) will try to make it four victories in four days today at 6:30 p.m. against West Chicago in the championship game. West Chicago beat Metea Valley 53-40 in the first semifiinal.
Smith scored 8 points in a 10-0 run that gave South Elgin a 12-2 lead. The Storm led 22-8 after the first quarter. Smith scored 13 of her game-high 20 points in the opening eight minutes.
ACC (13-4) got within 10 at 27-17 midway through the second quarter. But that’s as close as the Chargers got.
The Storm led 35-22 at halftime and put the game away by scoring the first 8 points of the second half to take a 43-22 lead.
“(The Chargers) can put up points quickly so we wanted to put the pressure on them in the third quarter and extend the lead,” South Elgin coach Tim Pendergast said. “That’s what we did.”
Pendergast was able to rest his starters for most, if not all, of the fourth quarter.
Kennede Miller had 11 points and 6 rebounds for the Storm. Amanda Behles added 8 points off the bench. Savanah Uvegas had 11 rebounds and played good defense on ACC’s Tesa Alderman, who went scoreless.
“This is our fifth year in this tournament and we’ve always done well in this tournament,” Pendergast said. “We’ve never been to the championship game so we’re really excited about playing West Chicago.”
Ashley Wilk led the Chargers, who will play Metea Valley at 5 p.m. today in the third-place game, with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Jackie Cardona added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“That’s a really good team,” ACC coach Mark Fitzgerald said of South Elgin. “There’s no shame in that. Our kids have played extremely well in this tournament. We didn’t have what it took tonight.”