Wheaton N. tips West Aurora; S. Elgin wins

Allie Cerone knows when she needs to step up for her Wheaton North teammates.

One of those moments happened against West Aurora.

Cerone committed a foul, her fourth, early in third period, sitting her down during a critical part of the game.

Cerone came back into the game in the fourth quarter and made up for lost time, scoring 10 points in the final period for the Falcons (5-2, 2-0) in a come-from-behind victory.

"I had a stupid foul that put me on the bench," Cerone said. "I felt I needed to make it up to my teammates for letting them down. I hope I did."

The Falcons got out of the gates quickly, starting the game on a 15-3 run. Senior forward Michelle Scandora scored 8 points in the first four minutes of the game.

West Aurora made the game close in the first half, scratching its way back to a 25-20 deficit at halftime.

To start the third quarter the Blackhawks (4-4, 1-1) went on a 15-4 run to open up a lead as large as 6 points.

"They came out really strong and aggressive to start the third quarter," Wheaton North coach Dave Eaton said. "We came out extremely flat to start the half. They played well during that span."

Then it was Cerone's chance to shine.

When the fourth quarter started, the Falcons trailed by three points. With the game tied 49-49, Cerone hit a 3-pointer in the right corner with 2:08 to play to give the Falcons a 52-49 lead, a lead they would not give up the rest of the game. Cerone scored 8 of her 16 points in the final 2:08 of the game.

"It was the same as all the other 3s I have hit in my career," Cerone said. "The only thing different with that 3 was that it gave us all the momentum we needed to pull the game out."

"Allie is a team captain and she deserves all the respect she gets," Eaton said. "She leads by example and tonight she did."

To end the game, the Falcons outscored the Blackhawks 15-3 in the final 2:31.

"We ran out of gas a little bit," West Aurora coach Conie Siljendahl said. "We got really tired and we got into some foul trouble. We didn't score, we had calls go against us, it just seemed like anything that could go against us did."

Kyra Watson scored a game-high 17 points and had 11 rebounds in the loss.

Scandora also scored 17 points in the win while Jamie Shin had 10 and Madison Goudy chipped in with 8 points.

South Elgin 52, Rolling Meadows 50:ŒEvery time the South Elgin girls basketball team fell behind Thursday night, it hit the clutch shot.

The most important was a 3-pointer from Alexa Kruel with just under a minute remaining to tie the game and helped the Storm defeat Rolling Meadows, 52-50, in South Elgin.

"They hit a lot big shots," Mustangs coach Patrick O'Connell said. "To their credit, they were a lot of tough shots."

South Elgin (4-5) led by as many as 13 points in the second quarter after Cortney Kumerow hit 2 free throws to give the Storm a 23-10 lead with 3:30 remaining in the half.

The Mustangs (2-6) rallied to cut the deficit to 26-23 at halftime.

The lead was still three, 38-35, heading into the fourth quarter. Shannon McGuire's free-throw line jumper with 6:20 left in the third quarter to give Rolling Meadows its first lead of the game, 39-38.

"We turned the ball over a little bit and let them get back into the game," Storm coach Tim Prendergast said. "We got real stagnant on offense."

That lead last 9 seconds as South Elgin junior Genevieve Johnson hit a 3-pointer as the Storm regained the lead, 41-49. Johnson added another basket off a turnover with 5 minutes left as the Storm's lead increased to 44-41.

Rolling Meadows' Taylor Fritz tied the game with a 3-pointer with 4:50 remaining. Two and a half minutes later Fritz hit 2 free throws, giving the Mustangs' a 46-44 lead.

Again it was Johnson who hit a 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining to give the lead, 47-46, to South Elgin.

Liezl Aluquin hit a basket and 2 free throws as Rolling Meadows again took a three-point lead, 50-47. Kruel came off a pick and fired a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 50-50.

"Alexa hit the big 3," Prendergast said. "Genevieve hit some shots. I give those girls the green light all the time. Alexa and Genevieve can shoot."

After a Rolling Meadows turnover and an key offensive rebound from the Storm's Dijon Smith, Johnson hit a runner off the glass with 24 seconds remaining to give the Storm the lead, 52-50.

Johnson finished with a game-high 19 points, 10 in the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs had one final chance after a steal by Aluquin and a timeout with 3.6 seconds left, but were never able to get off a shot.

"All through the lineup the kids play really hard," O'Connell said. "We definitely picked up our intensity."

Kumerow added 9 points and 10 rebounds for the Storm. Smith scored 9 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, 6 offensive, off the bench.

The Mustangs were led by Fritz, who finished with 11 points, 7 in the fourth. Aluquin added 9 points.