Sandburg's 23-0 run beats Porter girls in SWSC Blue

After going toe-to-toe with the defending Southwest Suburban Conference Blue champion Lady Vikings of Homewood-Flossmoor in a 46-36 loss on Monday, the Lockport Porter girls, were looking to even their SWSC Blue record on Thursday night in Lockport.

The visiting Eagles of Carl Sandburg (2-1, 1-0) had other ideas.

A pair of free-throws by the Porters' 6-foot-3 forward Syndney Furr (13 points, seven rebounds), pulled the Porters within 8-4 with 6:22 remaining in the first quarter. The Eagles would score eight consecutive points to open up a 16-4 lead at the first-quarter's newly-implemented mask timeout with four minutes remaining in the quarter

Obviously unhappy with the effort of the Porters' starting five, Lockport coach Dan Kelly sat his starters and sent in his second five onto the floor.

Over the next eight minutes of game time, the Eagles outscored the Porter reserves 15-0, extending their run to 23-0 and open up a 31-4 lead at the second-quarter mask break.

Porter starting junior point-guard Elizabeth "Bits" Sochacki returned late in the second quarter and settled down the Porters, who trailed 34-9 at the half.

The Porters (0-2, 0-1) would play the Eagles almost even in the second half and fall by a 56-29 score.

"The Southwest Suburban Blue is a very strong conference and one cannot give up their competitive edge, to any opponent," Kelly said. "We were lacking that edge, that Sandburg plays with. Sandburg is a great team and they really hit us with a hot start that really took away our edge."

The Porters outscored the Eagles 13-10 in the third quarter but trailed 44-22 at the end of three quarters.

Furr scored nine of her 13 points in the third quarter.

"We had a rough start but we settled down and played Sandburg even in the second half," Furr said. "Personally I played well in the third quarter, which was due to all of us playing better after halftime."

Junior Paige Rannells was a bright spot for the Porters, scoring seven points off the bench. Senior Elena Knebel scored just two points but grabbed seven rebounds for the Porters.

"Paige played well for us tonight and that's what Elena does well for us is rebound" Kelly added.

The Porters will travel to Joliet and play in "The Old Barn" with the Steelwomen of Joliet Central, in a non-conference game at noon on Saturday.