Crystal Lake South expected a physically-challenging game against Jacobs, one of the tallest teams in the Fox Valley Conference.

The Gators liked their chances Tuesday night, especially with junior forward Tessa Melhuish on their side.

The physically-gifted and fearless Melhuish helped the Gators’ defense hold Jacobs’ Olivia Schuster, a 6-foot-2 junior, in check as South picked up a 64-46 victory at Gator Alley for the team’s fifth win in a row.

“She battles. You can tell her, ‘Guard this girl, guard that girl,’ and she’ll do whatever you say,” said senior guard Laken LePage, who hit 3-pointers and led all players with 22 points Tuesday. “She’s tough, and we need a girl like her on our team who can battle down low.

“Sometimes she’s undersized against girls like that, but you can’t even tell. She’s getting just as many rebounds as them – and we appreciate her a lot.”

Melhuish (5-9) made 2 of 4 field goals for four points, but her biggest contributions came on the glass, where she battled for a game-high 12 rebounds. Melhuish also came up with three steals for the Gators, who took a 24-15 lead into the second quarter.

South coach Mark Mucha praised the play of Melhuish, whose contributions sometimes go unnoticed. On Tuesday, she was the only South player on the court for all 32 minutes.

“It’s crazy because we have some bigger-named players like Laken (LePage) and Gaby (Dzik) and Makena (Cleary). But if I’m picking teams, I might be picking Tessa No. 1 or 2 overall because of the intangibles that she brings,” Mucha said.

“It’s all the little things that go unnoticed to most, but mean so much to the end result. Olivia Schuster is one of the biggest girls in the conference, as well as No. 10 (Zara Lewis). They bring a ton of height, and we didn’t necessarily know how we were going to match up against that, but Tessa is always up to the challenge, no matter what.”

Melhuish enjoys being physical.

“I felt, down low, we were being very aggressive,” Melhuish said. “Height-wise and overall physically, [Jacobs] is a big and aggressive team so we just had to match their energy and beat them at that to win.”

On the offensive end for South, LePage scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the first half on a 6-of-9 shooting. South took a 35-22 lead into the half, also getting eight points from Cleary (17 points, three 3s) and six from Dzik (10 points) in the game’s first two quarters.

LePage, a St. Xavier commit, recently surpassed 1,000 career points, despite missing her entire sophomore season with a torn ACL.

“She can handle the ball, she can shoot deep, she can finish around the basket, she pushes in transition ... she’s just got so many facets to her game where she’s going to beat you,” Jacobs coach Jonathan Reibel said. “Her ability to shoot from the 3-point line, well beyond the arc, it stretches the defense. When she puts the ball on the ground, she’s strong, she’s quick and it’s hard to contain her.

“She’s an all-around great player that’s going to hurt any defense. You just hope to catch her on an off night.”

LePage, who also had four assists and three steals Tuesday, is the fourth in her family to hit 1,000 points in high school, joining her mom (Marisa), dad (Matt) and brother (Cooper).

“It’s special,” LePage said of reaching the milestone. “It’s not a standard for our family, but that’s what we enjoy to do. We enjoy playing basketball, and it just kind of shows our love for the game and it brings us closer together as a family.”

Senior Bri Ramsey led Jacobs (8-11, 4-5) with 14 points, and Schuster had 13 points and 10 rebounds. South junior Gracey LePage posted seven points, three steals and three assists in the win.

Reibel said Tuesday’s game, despite the loss, represented one of their most complete games of the season.

“All of our players felt confident, and that’s what we’re tying to push this to,” Reibel said. “Make decisions, make decisions quick and don’t hold back. They were ready to attack, they were ready to pass, and they were ready to move.”

Tuesday began a challenging stretch of games for the Gators (14-4, 7-2), who are tied for second in the FVC. Three of South’s next four games in the conference are against top contenders’ Cary-Grove, Huntley and Burlington Central.

South hasn’t won a conference title since 2009.

“The next couple of weeks, our hardest challenges are coming up,” Laken LePage said.