Girls Basketball:Neuqua Valley tops Streamwood

Updated: January 28, 2012 12:04AM

Host Neuqua Valley had an answer for every Streamwood question in Friday’s inter-divisional Upstate Eight contest.

After going most of the night with a comfortable lead, the Wildcats broke the game wide open with a 16-point run in the fourth quarter and topped the Sabres 68-45.

“It was a weird game,” said Neuqua Valley’s Megan Doody, who led the Wildcats with 23 points and 9 assists. “We would go on a run and get a good lead, and then all of a sudden they’d start to come back.”

The Wildcats’ (18-5) first big run was 17-3 in a first quarter that saw the Sabres commit a dozen turnovers.

“Neuqua pressured the ball really well,” said Streamwood coach Goerge Rosner. “Some of those turnovers were forced and some were our own fault.”

In the second period Streamwood’s offense kicked in, but even though they were only outscored by two points, the Sabres still trailed 39-23 at halftime.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were ahead 48-34 when their multiple defenses turned quickly into offense and produced 16 points in a row to virtually end the game.

In the space of about three minutes, Kristen Moore scored six points, while Doody, and Najee Smith each hit a pair of baskets and Jenny Voytell added a bucket in a sequence that featured five steals by the Wildcats.

“All our kids are competitive and we give everybody playing time,” said Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams. “Every time you turn around someone different is making a nice play. Najee had a lot to do with building that big lead in the fourth quarter. They all know they have to step up when they get the opportunity and I liked the way they responded tonight.”

“We do a lot of different things on both offense and defense,” said Doody. “We never stick to one thing. And we’re always on the run. Props to Streamwood. Every time we got a little lackadaisical they started to fight back. Every one of our girls came off the bench and played as hard as she can, especially on defense, and that led to our big scoring runs.”

Allison Hedrick and Moore hit 10 points apiece in the Wildcats attack and Najee Smith scored eight and came up with five steals.

Neuqua Valley forward Amber Smith twisted an ankle in the first half and sat out the rest of the game.

Jessica Cerda with 15 was the high scorer for the Sabers (10-12) and sophomore center Hannah McGlone scored 13 and brought down 12 rebounds.

“After that first quarter we moved the ball pretty well on offense,” said Rosner. “We kept cutting the lead down until the fourth quarter when they went on that big run.”

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