Lockwood fights through the pain to lead Sabres

The pain Streamwood's Nick Lockwood was feeling was obvious.

His ribs were wrapped under his singlet. He was slow every time he got up off the mat Saturday at Streamwood. And you could hear him scream in agony several times during a match.

But the pain, what he has been told by trainers might be a cracked rib, didn't stop him from competing twice. The junior lost his first match against Belvidere before earning a major decision victory over Larkin's Jeff Satterlee as the Sabres split a pair of dual.

"I felt pretty good in the (Larkin) match," Lockwood said. "The first match I was doing all right then I tilted him on top of me and hit (the rib) even more."

Streamwood beat Larkin, 52-14, and lost to Belvidere, 44-16. The meet was supposed to be a quadrangular, but Chicago Austin did not show up.

Lockwood believes he suffered the injury Tuesday. He said he made a deal with the trainers to allow him to wrestle Saturday if he went to get X-rays after the meet.

Against Satterlee in a 145-pound match, Lockwood took control early and kept his opponent on the mat for most of the match. Lockwood lost in a major decision, 13-4, to Belvidere's Nick Cuevas in his first match.

Freshman Joe Kubica (135), Steve Edeman (152), Dan Rhodes (160), Eleazar Petrov (171) and Mark Slobodnik (189) earned falls for the Sabres against Larkin. Rhodes pinned Jake Graves in 46 seconds.

"That's one of our main goals all year, to wrestle tough against (Upstate Eight) conference opponents and finish in the top half of the conference," Sabres coach Bill Peach said. "We'll keep working until we get to the end of the season and see where we finish up."

In Streamwood's match against Belvidere, Joe Mendoza (140) and Adam Lehman earned wins by fall and Jeff Mason (119) scored a major decision victory.

The Royals, who also lost to Belvidere, got a win by fall by Cameron Tanner (140), a major decision from Jacob Truax (215) and a decision victory from Ed Nevarez (275) against Streamwood.

"We're doing well in individual weights, but in terms of team score, we're not really competitive because we don't have a big team," said Larkin coach Mike Mulhearn, whose team didn't fill five weight classes against Streamwood.

"I think Tony wrestled well today, so did Truax and Tanner. We have individuals wrestling well. We just have bring it together as a team. Hopefully some of our young guys will develop."

Girls basketball

Bartlett 53, West Chicago 33:: Becca Cronin scored 19 points to lead Bartlett (1-6) to its first win of the season in this nonconference game.

St. Charles North 59, Streamwood 24:: Krissy Kunavich scored 8 points to lead Streamwood in this Upstate Eight loss.

St. Charles East 39, Neuqua Valley 20: It was a game filled with oddities.

How else can you explain the fact that one team made as many free throws (15) as the two teams combined for baskets?

When's the last time you watched an entire fourth quarter without seeing a single basket?

Or saw a team make more 3-point baskets (5) than conventional 2-pointers (4)?

Those were just a few of the strange statistics to come out of St. Charles East's 39-20 Upstate Eight Conference girls basketball victory over visiting Neuqua Valley (5-3, 0-1) Saturday afternoon.

With the win the Saints improved to 3-4 overall, 1-0 in UEC play.

"I think the big key was the fact that they couldn't solve the 1-3-1," said Saints coach Lori Drumtra. "You could see that they were getting quite frustrated."

That's an easy thing to do when you shoot just 15 percent from the field, commit 19 turnovers and fail to score a single point in the fourth quarter.

"It's one of those days," said Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams. "I think some of it has to do with confidence. When you miss a lot of shots -- not three or four, but 10 to 15 easy bunnies -- that's a whole different ballgame."

After the teams played to an 8-8 standoff in the opening quarter, the Saints outscored Neuqua Valley 10-3 in the second period to take an 18-11 halftime lead.

Three of the Saints' 5 first-half baskets came beyond the 3-point arc, as junior guard Tasha Lalos canned a pair of 3-pointers while Jaime Rust added another.

"What I was really pleased with was how patient we were," Drumtra said. "We didn't panic. That's just a killer when you keep them on defense for 30 seconds or more and then hit a 3-pointer."

Neuqua Valley scored the first 5 points of the second half, pulling within a basket on Raquel Davis' 3-pointer in the opening minutes.

But the Saints retaliated with 3-point baskets of their own from Lexi Baltes, Katie King and Lalos to take a 29-20 lead into the fourth quarter.

Lalos connected on 4 of 5 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 4 from beyond the 3-point arc, while scoring a game-high 12 points.

"She never does," Drumtra said of forcing up bad shots. "Her points are quiet. I looked up and saw that she had 12 points and I was like, 'Wow, those were 12 quiet points.' "

Lalos doesn't shoot until she feels comfortable.

"It has to feel right with how I'm set up, how my feet are set and where I get the pass," Lalos said. "My teammates did a real good job of passing the ball where I needed it and when I was open and ready for it."

Kara Schnier added 7 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals, while Rust had 5 points and 9 rebounds for the Saints, who outscored the Wildcats 10-0 in the fourth quarter -- with all the points coming at the free-throw line.

Katie Medvec led Neuqua Valley with 5 points.

-- Craig Brueske

General

St. Edward Steak Fry: The St. Edward High School Booster Club will honor Dr. Bob Mueller on Tuesday night at its semi-annual Steak Fry at Don Fitchie Memorial Green Wave Hall.

Mueller has been associated with St. Edward athletics for over 30 years in one way or another, including 9 years as JV girls basketball coach.

There is a $20 donation at the door for Tuesday's event, which starts at 6 p.m.

For further information, contact Frank J. Celarek at (847) 717-4321.