STREATOR — The offense was pretty good, the defense was excellent, and a goal Streator girls basketball hasn’t reached in a long time is in sight for the Lady Bulldogs with a 39-17 Thursday night home victory over Herscher here at Pops Dale Gymnasium.
Streator, which allowed just two points in the first half, improved its season record to 5-3. With just four games remaining in this COVID-reduced campaign — Saturday morning at home versus state-ranked Seneca, Monday at The Pops against defending Illinois Central Eight Conference champion Lisle, then on the road the following Thursday at Coal City and Saturday at Herscher — the Lady ‘Dogs with one win can clinch the program’s first .500 season since the late 1980s.
If they play like they did Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs should have no trouble winning at least a couple of those contests.
It started with defense, as the hosts held Herscher [2-6] without a field goal until 17 minutes and 59 seconds of game clock ticked away. Senior guard Emelia Schafer made that mid-range jumper almost two minutes into the second half, but even after it found the net, the Lady Tigers were behind 23-5.
“We’ve really been working hard at practice, and after facing good offensive teams like Peotone we’ve figured out that we need to work a little harder defensively,” Haynes said. “I feel like all of us have gotten into a defense we’re comfortable with, we’re comfortable with each other, everyone has each other’s backs with calls and everything, so we’re playing really well on defense.”
Dezirea Jordan with four steals, Jozie Cole with three takeaways and Haynes with eight blocked shots led that defensive effort, though they were far from the only ones who made life hard on the Lady Tigers. Anna Hoffmeyer, Kristen Lane, Haynes and Abby Seaton also recorded steals; while Avary McCloskey, Seaton, Lane and Lana Krohe added to Streator’s blocked-shot total of a dozen.
“I told the girls after the game tonight, that was by far their best defensive performance of the year we’ve had,” said SHS coach Beau Albert. “I know [Herscher] didn’t shoot very well, but we always were rotating somebody around the perimeter.
“Our two guards — Anna Hoffmeyer and Dez Jordan — did a great job of communicating and closing out and giving [Lady Tigers shooters] fits and a hand in their face. Natali had a lot of nice blocks inside and a lot of offensive and defensive rebounds, and Jozie Cole and Kristen Lane were right there too rebounding their rear ends off.
“I was happy with the defensive effort from not only the starting five, but also the girls who came off the bench tonight.”
The eight blocked shots for Haynes left her just two short of a triple-double, as she finished with a game-high 15 points and contest-best 12 rebounds. Jordan reached double digits herself with 12 points. Cole’s six points and six rebounds, Hoffmeyer’s three assists and Lane’s four-point, four-rebound, three-assist night also led the Lady Bulldogs.
Despite the defensive domination, Streator lost the turnover battle 18-14, but more than made up for it with a whopping 43-29 edge in rebounding.
Herscher, led by Schafer’s five points and eight rebounds, scored 12 of its 17 points in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Bulldogs’ varsity home game Saturday against Seneca — the No. 9 team in the latest Class 2A Associated Press poll — is scheduled to begin at 11:15 a.m.