Bartlett roars back to dump South Elgin

If there's one thing the Bartlett girls basketball team continues to prove it's that the Hawks never, ever feel they're out of a game.

Just three days after pressing undefeated Geneva to the limit before losing by 10 points, Bartlett fell behind South Elgin Tuesday night by 14 points midway through the second quarter.

But then the Hawks showed why games are played for 32 minutes as they went on an amazing 54-17 run over the game's final 21 minutes to come away with a 75-52 Upstate Eight Conference win in front of a big crowd on Senior Night in Bartlett.

Suddenly, the Hawks (15-9, 6-2 are in position to grab a piece of second place in the UEC if they can pull off a win at St. Charles North tonight.

"I don't know if we come out with too much energy or what but we just seem to get off to slow starts lately," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. "But then we seem to get faster and stronger as the game goes on."

The Hawks sure did that Tuesday. First, they erased South Elgin's 35-21 lead in the second quarter by going on a 13-2 run to end the foul-plagued half down just 37-34. The run was sparked by a 3-pointer from Nicollette Gutzwiller with 24 seconds left that made it a 35-34 game.

Then, trailing 43-40 with 3:52 left in the third quarter, the Hawks went on an improbable 20-0 run that ended when South Elgin freshman Becca Smith hit a runner in the lane to make it 60-45 Bartlett with 4:30 left in the game. Bartlett then closed out the game with a 15-7 run for the final margin.

"What held us together tonight was just the fire of knowing that we could pull it out if we all brought the best we could offer," said Bartlett freshman Haley Videckis, who came off the bench to score 15 points, grab 5 rebounds and block 2 shots. "We knew we could take them if we just brought it all together."

Sophomore Jacki Gulczynski, who was in early foul trouble, led the Hawks with 17 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks and 4 steals. Freshman Ashley Santos added 11 points, while freshman Christina Carlson came off the bench to contribute 7 points and 8 rebounds. Senior Becca Cronin also had 9 points.

"We play a lot of players and we just seem to finish strong," said Sarna, who also credited the second-half defense of senior Alexa Tovella on South Elgin's Smith as a key to the win.

Smith led South Elgin (17-8, 6-4) with 16 points and senior Cortney Kumerow added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Gen Johnson pitched in 9 points for the Storm, who had a seven-game winning streak snapped.

"We got killed on the glass and their defensive pressure got to us," said Storm coach Tim Prendergast, whose team was 17 of 58 shooting, had 29 turnovers and was outrebounded 52-40. "In the first half we got a lot of transition points and then in the second half we just couldn't get the ball inside. They had a lot of depth and we seemed a little tired.

"Bartlett's a good team. It was a disappointing second half but it's nothing we can't fix."