Streamwood holds off Elgin

With 3 victories this season, Streamwood has learned to cherish each and every win.

Elgin has yet to receive that feeling.

Leading 30-26 going into the fourth quarter, it looked as if the Maroons were finally about to crack the win column. Streamwood had other plans. The Sabres outscored Elgin 19-8 in the final period to grind out a 45-38 nonconference victory in Streamwood.

"It was right there, we just ran out of gas," Elgin coach Angie Hudson said. "We came up short on a lot of our shots."

Elgin (0-18) went 1 of 15 in the fourth quarter, while the Sabres (3-15) were 6 of 9.

Ryanne Mark had a pair of baskets and Arilee Gallione scored as Streamwood took a 32-30 lead with 6:12 remaining. Mark's tying basket came on a reverse layup. She graciously found the ball in her hands after three players tipped a pass inside. Streamwood would not trail again in the game.

"Ryanne with that reverse was huge," Sabres' coach George Rosner said. "(The fourth quarter) was the way we should have been playing the whole game. We had a lot more energy on offense and a lot more on defense."

The energy translated into baskets. After going up 32-30, Krissy Kunavich scored on an offensive putback and Melissa Oehlerking jacked up a 3-pointer to extend the Sabres' lead to 37-30.

Brandi Hernandez scored the Maroons' lone bucket of the quarter on Elgin's next trip down the court. Hernandez nailed a retaliation 3-pointer to make it a 37-33 game with 3 minutes remaining, but that was as close as Elgin would come.

Streamwood finished the game out on an 8-5 run with Daniel Cizowski making 6 of 6 free throws in the game's final minute.

"We got a little spark of energy," said Kunavich, who finished with 7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists. "We got them to turn the ball over in the beginning of the fourth quarter and used that."

Also hampering Elgin was the foul trouble of center Giselle Bruskewitz. The senior scored all 8 of her points in the first 3 periods and added 6 rebounds in the first half. Foul trouble limited Bruskewitz in the fourth quarter and without the points in the paint, guards Hernandez (9 points) and Caris Alan (11 points) struggled to get as many open looks.

"Having Giselle out really hurt us," Hudson said. "We look to her for any kind of inside scoring right now."

Emma Schmidt finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds for Streamwood, while Hernandez added 4 steals for Elgin.