Dundee-Crown pulls off upset of South Elgin
The performance by the Dundee-Crown girls basketball team on Friday in the Class 4A Streamwood regional title game against South Elgin could be summed up in a couple of words - resilient and relentless.
After leading throughout much of the game the Chargers surrendered the lead twice in the fourth quarter, but would not be denied as they shocked the top-seeded Storm 54-51 to win their second straight regional title.
Melissa Barker led the fifth-seeded Chargers with 25 points, including six 3-pointers.
D-C (15-18) advances to the DeKalb sectional on Tuesday where it will play Hononegah at 6 p.m.
"We have had some ups and downs this year and at times we have battled some leadership issues," D-C coach Sarah Miller said. "But tonight I couldn't be more proud of the way this team came together. During the time outs in the fourth quarter all the girls were saying "we got this.' They played with incredible poise and executed to perfection when they had to. So happy for them."
The Chargers (15-18) let both an 8-point lead early in the fourth quarter and a 4-point lead later in the quarter slip away and trailed 51-50 with less than a minute to play. However, Paige Gieseke made 1-of-2 free throws with 56 seconds on the clock to tie the score at 51-51. Then after a controversial offensive foul call on South Elgin, Gieseke put the Chargers ahead 53-51 with 20 seconds left when she scored a layup as she came off a screen, cut to the basket, and took a dish pass from Kennedy White.
"I am so happy for everybody on this team," Gieseke said. "After all the blood, sweat, and tears we deserve this. They got us rattled for a little while in the fourth quarter, but we came together and got back under control. I knew I was getting the ball on that play at the end and all I could think about was I wanted to make sure I made it for my teammates."
Barker had three 3-pointers in the first quarter that helped the Chargers take an 18-10 lead. She had another in the third that gave the Chargers a 33-30 lead at the time. Then in the fourth quarter Barker had back-to-back 3s that put the Chargers back on top 50-46 after the Storm had taken the lead with a 12-3 run.
"This is such a great feeling especially after how hard we have worked all year," Barker said. "We just refused to give up in that fourth quarter. My teammates did a great job of attacking the basket and that gave me some good looks from the outside."
South Elgin (20-10) had 22 points each from seniors Nadia Yang and Bridgette Williams. The Storm had their chances in the final minute but a basket by Yang was waved off for an offensive charge after the officials huddled. The Storm also missed on 3 shots and a pair of free throws in the final 15 seconds any one of which could have tied it.
"Obviously a very tough loss that's going to hurt for a while especially with some of the things that happened at the end," South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack said. "But still a 20-win season is a lot to be proud of and is a great season. We are going to miss our seniors. They have meant the world to our program."