Sarna, Bartlett top Streamwood, Rosner
Bartlett girls basketball coach Denise Sarna was looking forward to Thursday night’s Upstate Eight Conference crossover game at Streamwood.
What she got to see was an up-and-down performance from her No. 1-ranked team. The Hawks used a 12-0 run that spanned from the end of the second quarter and into the third to defeat the Sabres 54-37.
“I felt we were a little uninspired at times,” Sarna said. “Shots weren’t falling either way. It was not a pretty display of offense on either side.”
Sarna began her coaching career as an assistant at Streamwood. She is now 256-127 in her nine seasons at Bartlett. During her Streamwood stint, Sarna assisted Sabres head coach George Rosner, who is retiring from teaching after this school year.
In what could be the last game between the two coaches, both teams struggled early until the Hawks (25-1) closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 14-4 lead.
“We have to stop starting of slow, especially now going into the playoffs,” said Bartlett senior Lisa Palmer, who scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. “We have to pick it up.”
Streamwood (14-13) answered by scoring the first 10 points, 4 each from Jessica Cerda and Hannah McGlone, of the second quarter to tie the game at 14-14. After a Palmer basket for the Hawks, Cerda hit a pair of free throws and Kelly Drawl had an offensive rebound and putback to give the Sabres an 18-16 lead.
The lead lasted 7 seven seconds as Palmer tied the score and started a 10-0 run to end the half, giving Bartlett a 26-18 lead.
The Sabres got within 6 at 28-22 midway through the third quarter before the Hawks went on an 11-2 run to open a 15-point lead at 39-24.
“We could have buried some shots. We had some great looks,” said Rosner, an ICBA Hall of Famer. “They (the Hawks) are so big and have so many matchup problems for us, they are going to find the inside people against us.”
Haley Videckis, who did not start because of team reasons according to Sarna, added 14 points for the Hawks. Kristin Conniff had 11 points and 7 rebounds. Bartlett shot 40 percent (26-for-65).
The injury-riddled Sabres shot just 26 percent (12-for-47). McGlone had 13 points and 16 rebounds, and Cerda added 11 points.