Meadows comes up just short

Every time the South Elgin girls basketball team fell behind Thursday night, the Storm hit a clutch shot.

The most important was a 3-pointer from Alexa Kruel with just under a minute left to tie the game -- and help the Storm beat visiting Rolling Meadows 52-50 in a nonconference game.

"They hit a lot big shots," said Mustangs coach Patrick O'Connell. "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 Courtney Kumerow hit 2 free throws to give the Storm a 23-10 lead with 3:30 left before halftime.

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

The lead was 38-35 heading into the fourth quarter.

Shannon McGuire's jumper from the free-throw line with 6:20 left in the third quarter gave the Mustangs their first lead of the game, 39-38.

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

The Meadows lead lasted nine seconds. Junior Genevieve Johnson hit a 3-pointer to put the Storm ahead 41-39. Johnson added another basket off a turnover with five minutes left to give the Storm a 44-41 edge.

Taylor Fritz (11 points) tied the game on a 3-pointer with 4:50 remaining, and 2½ minutes later Fritz hit 2 free throws to put the Mustangs ahead 46-44.

Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 2:06 left to give the Storm a 47-46 lead.

Liezl Aluquin (9 points) hit a basket and 2 free throws as Rolling Meadows led 50-47.

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

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 unable 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.