Hoffman Estates handles Schaumburg

Hoffman Estates forward Destinee Young suffered a hard fall early Friday night in the Hawks’ 60-45 win over visiting Schaumburg.

But the 6-foot sophomore wasn’t about to let a sore elbow keep her on the bench for more than a couple of minutes — especially since the Hawks had lost to the Saxons earlier in the season.

“We took them for granted the first time,” said Young, who along with teammate Jada Stotts scored a game-high 16 points in the win. “Tonight we came out more physical, and everybody on the team stepped up.”

“This was a rivalry game,” said Hoffman junior point guard Mary Pettit, who herself sustained a bloody nose after a melee in the second half that sent her to the locker room. “Schaumburg saw a different team tonight than the one that played them earlier.”

Young scored 14 of her points in the first half to set the tone for the game, and also added 4 blocks, 2 steals and a game-high 12 rebounds.

“Destinee played a strong first half,” said Schaumburg coach Ashley Berggren. “She was tearing it up on the offensive boards.

“We did a better job on her in the second half, but they had other players step up.”

One of those players was Stotts, who scored 9 of her points in the third quarter. After Schaumburg senior sharpshooter Rachel Stuehm (10 points) canned a 3-pointer to cut the Hoffman lead to 7 late in the period, Stotts nailed a 3 of her own moments later to extend the advantage back to double digits.

Precious Ogunleye (9 points) helped the Hawks (13-6, 3-3) open the lead even wider in the fourth quarter, but Saxons senior Alyssa Saklak scored 10 of her team-high 13 points in the final stanza as Schaumburg tried to rally.

“She (Saklak) gave us a spark,” said Berggren. “She’s a competitor, and she competes to very end. Alyssa has great jumping ability, and she was able to control that and get a lot of points on putbacks.”

Hoffman senior guard Tanya Skworch scored 6 points in the fourth as the Hawks sealed the win late.

Jenna Gerber added 11 points for Schaumburg (8-11, 2-4), while sophomore Becca Stoczynski pitched in 10 points for the home team.

“The first time we played them,” said Hoffman Estates coach Mike Nocella, “we went about 150 miles per hour the whole game. Tonight we played more in control. We’ve been in a funk the last few games, but tonight everyone played great.”

“This was a huge win,” added Pettit. “We’ve had a rough week, but now we’re right back on track.”