Waubonsie Valley 74, Streamwood 45

It was a freaky Friday at Streamwood.

The host Sabres, playing for the first time on their sparkling new wood floor, looked sharp in taking a 17-11 lead through one quarter of an Upstate Eight Conference boys basketball game against experienced Waubonsie Valley, the No. 13 team in the Daily Herald Top 20.

Streamwood sank 7 of 18 shot attempts in the first period and turned the ball over just twice.

Slow-starting Waubonsie Valley, meanwhile, shot just 3 of 11 in the opening quarter and committed 6 turnovers.

But from that point forward the two teams played as if they had switched bodies between periods.

The Warriors outscored the Sabres 25-3 in the second quarter and went on to claim a 74-45 victory, their fourth straight.

Waubonsie Valley (7-1, 2-0) heated up in the second period, thanks to 13 points from junior Jelani Johnson, who hit all 6 of his shot attempts, including a 3-pointer. The Warriors sank 9 of their 16 shots as a team and only turned the ball over twice.

"Streamwood's fans had their team pumped up early," Johnson said. "Coach (Steve Weemer) told us in a timeout we had to get it together or we could lose this game. That started the quick turnaround for us."

Said Weemer: "We picked up our defensive pressure and that got us going. Our defense creates things for us and got us going in that second quarter. And our shots fell."

Streamwood couldn't stop the bleeding. The Sabres (3-5, 0-2) went 0 for 10 from the field in the second quarter, turned the ball over 7 times and connected on 3 of 6 free throws.

"We kind of just died," Sabres forward T.J. Enno said. "Unforced turnovers kind of blew it for us there. And we couldn't make a shot at that end of the court."

Making matters more troublesome for Streamwood, top guard Tem Esikiel picked up his third foul in the second quarter, stayed in the game because Waubonsie was on a 17-0 run, then picked up his fourth foul on an over-the-back call with 2:30 to play before halftime.

"We played a great first quarter and that's the way we're capable of playing all the time," first-year Streamwood coach Tim Jones said.

"Our Achilles' heel is our unforced turnovers. We see the guy open, but we don't react right away with the ball. I think it's a group still learning to play the game the way I think it should be played. They're seeing it, but they're not executing it quite all the time."

The trends for both teams continued in the third quarter as Waubonsie outscored Streamwood 25-15 to take a 61-35 lead to the final period.

Third-year Waubonsie Valley guards Josh Daniels, Justin Peaster and Kevin VandenBerg supported Johnson in a balanced offensive attack. Daniels scored 15 points, Peaster had 12 and VandenBerg 11.

Warriors senior Kyle Obendorf snared 10 boards as Waubonsie outrebounded Streamwood 32-18.