South Elgin downs Glenbard N.
South Elgin's Becca Smith says she is not concerned about the 2,000-point mark that she is approaching.
The senior is more worried about the IHSA postseason, which begins next week.
Smith scored 12 points Tuesday night in the Storm's 52-39 nonconference girls basketball victory over Glenbard North on senior night in South Elgin.
"When we're playing all I'm focused on is winning," Smith said. "If I get it, I get it. I just hope we can advance in the state tournament. That's all I really want to do."
Smith now has 1,954 points in her four-year varsity career. The Storm (16-10) play at Batavia on Thursday and begin the Class 4A South Elgin regional Feb. 14 either Elgin or Larkin.
South Elgin, which is the No. 1 seed at the regional, shot just 28.3 percent Tuesday. Smith went 2-for-13. While South Elgin was just 17-of-60 from the floor, it was in control throughout the game.
"We missed a lot of shots around the basket, not necessarily layups," Storm coach Tim Pendergast said. "We didn't shoot the ball well throughout the whole night. You kept thinking that at some point we were going to get it going. We've got to clean things up because we don't want to missing shots like that when we start playing in the tournament."
The Storm finished the first quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 14-8 lead. Back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Alexa Matison and Smith gave South Elgin a 22-10 lead with 4:48 remaining in the second quarter. The lead was 29-17 at halftime and the Storm increased to 34-17 just 2 minutes into the third quarter after a 3-pointer from senior Lania Robinson.
The Panthers (11-14) cut the deficit to 8, 40-32, with 33 seconds left in the third quarter on a Laila Pickens basket.
Amy Falson and Teddi Govedarica each hit a pair of free throws early in the fourth quarter to get Glenbard North within 7, 43-36. But a quick 5-0 run, coming on a 3-pointer from Smith and a layup from Savanah Uveges, increased the Storm's lead back up to 12, 48-36, with 5:55 remaining. The lead never fell below 10 the rest of the game.
"We dug a hole early and had trouble sticking it in (the basket)," said Panthers coach John Chamberlain, whose team shot 42.1 percent (16-for-38). "That was a problem for sure."
Kennede Miller had 11 points and 7 rebounds for South Elgin. Uveges added 8 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Smith also grabbed 7 rebounds.
UEC crossover update: Waubonsie Valley won the game and then the coin flip. The Warriors secured a share of the Upstate Eight Valley title Tuesday night with a 45-38 win over Neuqua Valley, then Waubonsie Valley won the coin flip with Bartlett to determine which team plays at Geneva in Friday's UEC first-place crossover game. Bartlett will play at Streamwood on Thursday.