Streamwood ready to take on Geneva
Coaches love to preach about taking one game at a time.
And while Streamwood girls basketball coach George Rosner did just that with his team this week, the Sabres knew better.
After winning Tuesday’s nonconference game over Burlington Central, the Sabres had a final dress rehearsal Wednesday for their game of the week tonight at Geneva.
Streamwood might not want an encore performance from start to finish tonight, but the Sabres certainly showed they are ready to challenge the Vikings in tonight’s battle for first place in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division. Streamwood finishes the regular season with a Friday game at Batavia and a Saturday afternoon home game with St. Charles East, both River opponents.
On Senior Night, Streamwood seniors Michelle Tomczak and Emma Schmidt combined for 27 points as the No. 14 Sabres shook off the emotions of the night and a slow start to outlast South Elgin 56-48 in a UEC crossover.
“Coach likes to say one game at a time but everyone knows these two games were preparation for (tonight),” said Schmidt, who had 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Even Rosner agreed Tuesday and Wednesday were the warmup nights.
“(Tonight) is huge,” said Rosner, whose program hasn’t won a conference title since 1987-88. “We’ve played these two games now, they’re done and out of the way. It’s a game for first place. We know what it means.”
The Sabres also knew what Rosner meant when he let them know in no uncertain terms he wasn’t happy with their play after the first quarter Tuesday. South Elgin (12-12), which welcomed junior standout Becca Smith back to the lineup after missing three weeks with a sprained knee, jumped out to a 12-6 lead after a first quarter in which the teams combined to shoot 5-for-29.
“Senior Night is always a tough one to play,” said Rosner. “We started out very slow offensively. Defensively we were OK but we started out slow on offense.”
The Sabres (19-4) picked it up in the second quarter, outscoring the Storm 19-13 to forge a 25-25 halftime tie. Streamwood then took the lead early in the third quarter and extended to as many as 9, 47-38, after 2 free throws from Tomczak (15 points, 11 rebounds) with 6:10 to play in the game.
But South Elgin mounted a comeback. The Storm cut the lead to 4, 47-43, after a free throw from Kelsey Prince with 3:59 left, but fell behind by 8 again, 51-43, when Schmidt scored on a putback with 1:44 left. South Elgin got back to within 4 after 2 free throws by Kennede Miller and a steal and layup from Samantha Uveges with 1:12 left and made it a 51-48 game on a Uveges free throw with 50 seconds to go. The Storm was forced to foul and Streamwood junior Amanda Patterson (11 points) knocked down 4 of 4 from the line in the final 28 seconds to help the Sabres win, despite 9 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“We got a little careless at the end taking care of the basketball,” said Rosner, whose team is 1 win from its first 20-win season since 1987-88. “We have to maintain our composure better.”
Deja Moore added 8 points for the Sabres, while Lania Robinson led South Elgin with 15. Smith had 12 for the Storm, who shot just 14 of 54 for the game.
“I felt like at halftime we could have been up 10-12 points,” said South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast, whose team plays at Metea Valley tonight, then closes out the regular season at home Friday against Bartlett. “Becca was rusty and we were rusty after 10 days off. We had an opportunity to win the game at the end we just didn’t do the things we needed to do.”
“I’m happy with the effort. After 10 days off to come on the road against a 19-4 team and have a chance to win at the end ... I’m happy with that. I’m upset we lost but I’ll get over it. We have a game tomorrow night.”
An for the Sabres, the showdown is set.
“Since the first time we played Geneva (a 61-52 Geneva win Jan. 6) they’ve always been on our minds,” said Tomczak. “It’s a big one and we just have to play smart basketball.”